Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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29. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will provide a detailed update on the roll out of the 116000 missing children hotline; the publicity strategy in place to publicise this facility; if she will give a commitment to future funding; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32591/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The 116000 Missing Children Hotline is an EU-wide initiative designed to provide a single point of contact across the European Union for missing children and their families. The number is currently operational in 23 EU countries and has been allocated and will soon be in operation in a further three countries. In Ireland, the service is operated by the ISPCC and is overseen by a cross-sectoral project team, chaired by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. Funding for the operation of the line in Ireland is being provided by my Department and the EU, through its Daphne funding stream. The funding received from the EU Daphne fund and from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs includes the establishment costs, national promotion and advertisement of the service. In common with all Exchequer funding, requirements for the operation of the service in future years will be considered in the context of the usual Estimates process. The Missing Children Hotline has been operating on a limited hours pilot basis in Ireland since December 2012 and on a full-time 24/7 basis since the end of April 2013. The service was officially launched on 5 June last.

A key component of the service is a successful awareness programme. It is vital that those who could benefit from the service know it exists and that users are aware of the scope of the service. During the initial set-up phase of the service, the ISPCC focused on community-based promotion of the service. This included presentations to local community groups. Posters, flyers and business cards have been distributed to all Garda stations from Garda headquarters and promotional material has been distributed to a variety of community based projects in various locations throughout the country. The ISPCC has made extensive use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter to advertise this service on an ongoing basis. The official launch of the service on 5 June 2013 also provided the opportunity to further promote the scope of the service. The 116000 Missing Children Hotline website, missingchildrenhotline.ie, was launched on 5 June 2013, the day of the official launch of the service. In less than a month since its launch, the website has received approximately 2,000 hits. To date, some €35,000 has been spent on awareness measures. This amount will be doubled for further awareness measures in the rest of 2013. It is important to note the 116000 number is not an emergency number. Emergency calls should always be directed to the 999/112 number in the first instance, where the relevant emergency responses, including the recently launched Garda Missing Children Amber Alert mechanism, may be activated. The establishment of the 116000 line will be of valuable support and assistance to the families of missing children and to missing children.