Ardagh calls for funding to save 'Crimestoppers'

The Garda confidential telephone line, Crimestoppers, is in need of urgent funding if it is to survive, the chairman of the Dáil Justice Committee, Mr Sean Ardagh, said this evening.

The line, set up in 1998, allows members of the public to pass information confidentially to the Garda, but now it could be at risk of shutting down, the Fianna Fail deputy said.

"It is under-valued, under-resourced and under-staffed and I am concerned about this," Mr Ardagh said in a statement. "I will raise Crimestoppers and its future with my colleagues on the Committee this week in order to bring the entire issue of confidential crime lines, particularly Crimestoppers into the public domain for the benefit of all law abiding citizens."

Mr Ardagh said he intends to invite the board of Crimestoppers to appear before the Committee and ther relevant groups including the Garda and officials from the Department of Justice to "discuss Crimestoppers future, its profile, its resources, its current financial situation, its marketing and other major issues affecting its success."

The phone line - manned by detectives in the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation in Harcourt Square, Dublin - depends on sponsorship revenue to survive. An Post is the current sponsor. Calls to the line have dipped since RTE's Crimeline programme, which regularly advertised Crimestoppers, was dropped from schedules.

The Minister for Justice is due to meet with a delegation from Crimestoppers this week.