Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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831. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs in view of the uncertainty of funding for the new family and child service, if he will confirm that long-term funding for the 116000 service will not be affected and will remain in place. [31552/14]

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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834. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his views that the advertising of the 116000 number clearly states that the public should contact this if they have information in relation to a missing child. [31603/14]

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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836. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of calls received to date to the 116000 missing child service (details supplied). [31675/14]

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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837. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide a breakdown of all areas where the 116000 number is being advertised; if it is being advertised in prominent places; if the number is advertised in airports, bus stations, the Luas, train stations and Dublin Bus; and if there has been a follow-up to advertise on RTE news once a month and RTE radio news once a month. [31676/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 831, 834, 836 and 837 together.

Funding for the operation of the Missing Children Hotline is being provided by my Department and the EU, through its Daphne funding stream, and not by Tusla, (the Child and Family Agency). As is the case with other services, funding requirements for the operation of this service going forward will be considered in the context of the Estimates process.

Members of the public may call the 116 000 Hotline if they see a missing child or if they have information to pass on regarding a missing child. Information in this regard is published on the ISPCC web page entitled 'Missing Childrens Hotline.' It is important to appreciate that the Hotline is a support service rather than an emergency service. Where callers require assistance outside the scope of the services provided by the Hotline, they are referred to An Garda Síochána or whichever branch of the emergency services is appropriate. Staff of the Missing Children Hotline will also pass on information to the emergency services when it is appropriate to do so.

The 116 000 Hotline was set up to provide advice and emotional support to parents/guardians whose child is missing. This advice and support may also be accessed by the extended family of a child who is missing or, indeed, by the child themselves. A key component of the service is an awareness programme.

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. Subsequently, 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. Further, the ISPCC makes extensive use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter to advertise this service on an ongoing basis. The 116 000 Missing Children Hotline website (www.missingchildrenhotline.ie) also serves to promote the service. Website hits in the first quarter of 2014 were 16,468, an increase of 182% over the total number of hits for the entirety of 2013 - i.e. 6,059.

Service promotion for the Hotline has continued in 2014. Traditional advertising such as poster distribution, outreaches and networking is continuing. Social media is also being utilized. The ISPCC has secured advertising space in bus and train stations nationally.

Posters have been distributed in Louth, Meath, Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Cork and Galway. These posters were placed in schools, community centres, health centres, libraries and local shops.

From its inception in 2013 to the end of the first quarter of 2014 a total of 591 calls were made to the Hotline.

The core aim of the service is to connect with potential service users. In order to achieve this the ISPCC will continue to promote the service locally and nationally. International Missing Children’s Day took place on 25 May 2014 and the ISPCC held a national social media campaign to highlight the issue of missing children.