Ryanair, Ireland’s No 1 airline, today (18 Dec) made a €125,000 donation to ISPCC Childline, its 2019 chosen Irish charity partner, as it concluded a year of fundraising activities.

Childline is Ireland’s only 24-hour listening service for children and young people. It listens to, supports and empowers children and young people who can contact the service about any issue on their mind. Childline costs almost €4 million to run every year and relies on donations for 90 per cent of its funding. The service will answer over 1,000 calls, online chats and texts this Christmas Day. Ryanair’s support helps ensure Childline is there for children 24 hours a day, every day.

A number of fundraising initiatives were held throughout 2019 including the addition of a digital donation feature in the checkout process on Ryanair.com. Thanks to this feature, Irish customers can make a small but important donation of €1 to ISPCC Childline every time they book a flight with Ryanair. Ryanair thanked all of its customers who supported its charity partnership over the past four years, who have helped raise over €440,000 for Childline.

Ryanair’s Eimear Ryan said:

“Ryanair is proud to partner with ISPCC Childline and support the invaluable work they do to help children in need. The €125,000 donated will enable them to continue to provide a vital range of services. We have held a number of fundraising efforts in conjunction with Childline throughout 2019 and we wish to thank everyone who supported our events. We look forward to hosting further charity events in 2020.”

ISPCC CEO John Church said:

“ISPCC Childline is delighted to receive this generous donation from Ryanair. The dedicated support shown by Ryanair to Childline over the past four years has helped to keep the service listening and helped ensure every child and young person in Ireland always has somewhere to turn. Through the digital donation facility launched earlier this year, Ryanair and its customers are helping to enhance Childline’s online service offering to children. This is vital for many who choose to contact the service in this way. Ryanair will continue to be a part of every contact Childline answers.”