The Safer Internet Ireland Awareness Centre

The Safer Internet Ireland Project is a consortium of industry, education, child welfare and government partners that provide Safer Internet awareness, hotline and helpline functions and activities for the Republic of Ireland.

The PDST, Childline, the National Parents Council, and the Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland are the partners in the consortium.

It is coordinated by the Office of Internet Safety (OIS) to develop national initiatives promoting the safer use of electronic media and enhance protection of the vulnerable, particularly children, against the downside of the Internet.

This consortium builds on the experience gained from the previous highly successful but independently run Safer Internet projects.

The project is part funded by the EU Safer Internet Programme. In summary the project:

• Creates high profile, tightly coordinated, national safer internet actions that are sustainable in to the future as technologies and uses of new media develop.
• Develops materials and programmes of awareness to ensure that children, teachers and parents understand the benefits and risks of the Internet.  These will also advise on the necessity and means to report should illegal or harmful content be encountered.
• Makes available on a 24/7 basis a professionally run counselling service where children affected by issues encountered on the Internet may turn for advice and guidance.
• Operates an Internet hotline service to the highest professional standards, that is trusted by the public to allow anonymous confidential reporting of suspected illegal content or activities encountered on the Internet.

The project partners are:

• The Office for Internet Safety acts as co-coordinator of the project, with overall responsibility for the financial & administrative aspects of the project.
• The Webwise iniitiative of the Professioanl Development Support Service for Teachers (PDST), which acts as technical coordinator for the Awareness Node, which has primary responsibility for the development of material and programmes of awareness to ensure children, teachers and parents understand the benefits and risks of the internet, through initiatives such as www.webwise.ie
• The Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland (ISPAI) which is the technical coordinator of the Hotline, the service which allows the public to report suspected illegal content or activities found on the internet
• The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) is the technical coordinator of the Helpline (Childline), which provides on a 24/7 basis services where children affected by issues encountered on the Internet may turn for advice and guidance.
• The National Parents Council Primary (NPC) is the technical coordinator of the parent/adult Helpline, a dedicated helpline to deal with issues relating to internet safety including cyberbullying.

To read more about the hotline, click here, and for more on the helplines available click here.