Childline: Charity scandals saw an immediate collapse in donations

The head of Childline says the charity scandals of last year had an immediate impact on its funding.

However, there was good news yesterday, with the announcement its night-time service will remain open in the New Year.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the ISPCC/Childline announced the allocation of funding to be provided over a two-year period.

It will also see the ISPCC work with the department in supporting developments in the area of child protection.

Interim CEO of Childline Caroline O'Sullivan, says it is a great improvement on last year.

Ms O'Sullivan said: "We have been running deficits for a number of years, but in 2013 we thought we were actually going to break even.

"But that is the same year that the CRC scandals and Rehab happened, and they had an immediate impact in that our income dropped by 20% at a time when we raised most of our money, like a lot of charities, in the last quarter of the year.

"That continued right throughout 2014 where we were 30% down in some months on the previous year."