Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy kindly flagged that he was going to raise this issue. I am trying to get more detail about how best we can respond to it. Let us not forget that Childline is not a State agency. It is a service that gets some State funding, but it gets a lot of private funding as well. It is providing a very important service and we have to put some thought into how we can ensure that the service provided by Childline can also be provided for children who use Irish as their first and daily language. However, we must do that in a way that does not undermine Childline's core work and the number of calls it is taking and dealing with daily. The Deputy has raised a valid issue but we need some time to think about how we can respond appropriately, not undermine Childline but at the same time try to provide a service for those who seek a support service in Irish.

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