Childline referred 131 calls to gardaí last year

Childline referred 131 calls to gardaí last year, with the helpline’s annual report also showing that it answered almost 60,000 calls about abuse and welfare issues.

The 24-hour listening service received 664,005 telephone calls last year, of which 443,449 were answered. More than 38% of the calls answered related to personal issues, while 13.5% related to abuse and welfare concerns.

National Childline manager Margie Row said the 131 referrals to gardaí came on foot of calls made to the number, and 88 written reports were then provided to the HSE.