Saoirse Ronan fronts heartbreaking appeal for ISPCC this Christmas

Childline by ISPCC today launches a national Christmas appeal, voiced by actress Saoirse Ronan, with shocking statistics from Ireland’s only 24/7 listening service for children and young people that reveal:     

• 300 children a year contact Childline about sexual abuse involving rape, incest and being forced to watch and/or perform sexual acts      
• 50 children a year are in the process of trying to take their own life while on the phone to the Childline team     
• 50 contacts are received every week in relation to sexual, physical and emotional abuse     
• Physical abuse contacts are related to domestic violence, hitting and physical punishment      
• Physical abuse peaks when children are 13 years of age; sexual abuse peaks at the age of 16     
• The Childline team spends the equivalent of 50 full days a year talking to children and young people in immediate crisis    

Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan has put her full support behind ISPCC’s vital campaign to reveal the dark truths behind childhood in Ireland. “Once I was that Child,” a national radio campaign, is brought to full, terrible, haunting life by the power of Saoirse’s performance.  The Blitz and Outrun actress urges the listener to think of and donate to the ISPCC, which needs public support to continue its essential work helping so many traumatised children and young people.       

Saoirse Ronan said: “For too many children and young people, Christmas doesn’t mean presents or a happy day full of warmth and safety. Instead, it means abuse, neglect and loneliness. It breaks my heart to know that it can be nothing but a living nightmare for many of our young people across this country. Take a moment to think of all the young people in your community who could be going through this behind closed doors, alone, afraid, feeling unloved.     

“At Childline, there is always someone there to listen, support and be there for them - while their world is crumbling around them.  Childline has long been a cause close to my heart and I know that their vital work makes a real and lasting difference. I am so proud to support this appeal and urge everyone to donate whatever they can to help ensure that Childline can remain a lifeline to children this Christmas.”      

“Once I was that child, screaming inside as I was stolen and eaten alive.” This line spoken by Saoirse in the powerful radio campaign is a sentiment that tragically resonates only too well with the team at ISPCC.     

Children and young people reach out to ISPCC’s team of trained volunteers and professional staff to tell them of the trauma they endure, which includes sex trafficking, experiencing choking and strangulation and being made to watch and perform sexual acts.      

• Sophie’s* father has become so out of his mind on drugs at times that he has forced himself on her, thinking she is his partner. Sophie is terrified of him.     
• Sixteen-year-old Aisling* is petrified of her fiftysomething “boyfriend” who makes her perform sexual acts that she doesn’t want to do.      
• Conor*, who is only eight years old, lives in terror of his mother’s new partner who takes his anger out on him. He worries that no one would believe him, although he has the bruises to prove it.      
• Orla* is 10 years old, fatherless and lonely. She rings Childline for company while she minds her three-year-old brother when her mother leaves her alone to go out drinking.      

It takes a lot of courage for a child to ring Childline, and the 24/7 Childline listening service means that there is always someone to listen if a child or young person needs to share their story, during the festive season and all through the year.      

“This Christmas, we call on the people of Ireland to think of the children for whom Christmas is not a time of joy but instead just another nightmarish day in a life filled with trauma,” says John Church, ISPCC CEO.     

Church continued: “Too many children in this country don’t have the Christmas they deserve. Unfortunately, we still have vulnerable children and families in situations drowning without the support they require and deserve – and have a right to.  We depend on donations for up to 90% of the funding which keeps us listening 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year. Without your help, we wouldn’t be here for the children who need us so much.”    

“Once I was that Child” will air on national and regional radio stations from Monday, November 25th.  

Link to ‘Once I was that Child’ radio campaign: https://youtu.be/mrQrUdNKs8U 

To hear an uncut version please go to: https://youtu.be/sCxgJboLElE

To help Childline help those children whose Christmas dreams have turned to nightmares, go to ispcc.ie    

*Names have been changed