Missing children freephone hotline still not in place

IRELAND was one of a minority of EU countries that did not have a freephone hotline for missing children in place by yesterday’s deadline.

The ISPCC has said it would be willing to provide the 24/7 service but it cannot afford the €80,000 a year it would cost and they have asked the government to help.

The hotline with the same 116 000 number which can be dialled anywhere in the EU from any member state that provides it, is designed to immediately alert the authorities when a child goes missing.

“We know that the first few hours after a child disappears are vital. And that is why we need every country to provide this service that will be equally useful to visitors as well as to locals,” said Commissioner Viviane Reding.

But Ireland has been dragging its heels for the past few years with previous justice ministers saying it was not a straightforward thing to organise.

Rhona McGinn of the ISPCC said: “Every day children go missing in Ireland. It’s a very real problem and we need to act now. The government needs to accept responsibility for this project so the hotline can be in service as soon as possible.”

A website to be administered by the gardaí was established a few years ago with corporate funding and for a time the parents of missing people operated a service but with minimal support or funding.

Yesterday was international missing children’s day and the deadline for EU countries to allocate the number and have the service operational.

Just 15 countries have it up and running — Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Britain.

“I want commitments from all member states to implement the new telecoms rules requiring them to make every effort to ensure that citizens have access to a service operating a hotline to report cases of missing children,” said Commission vice president Neelie Kroes.

Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins said the money must be found for the service.

“I am very disappointed to learn that there is no funding available at EU level, but we cannot let that stop this initiative. The money must be found,” he said.

The ISPCC said that in the countries where the hotline is not operating, services are usually provided by voluntary organisations that can only afford to operate during office hours — which can lead to delays in reporting children missing and in relaying information from the public that could be vital.

Usually such NGOs cannot afford to take calls from foreign mobile phones as the costs of roaming are prohibitive.