Cork children calling Childline are worried about sextortion and grooming

Grooming and sextortion are among the growing concerns young people have when contacting Childline in Cork, with at least one teenager in distress daily over online interactions.

The service in Cork currently handles more than 300 calls and 260 online chats each week. The Cork branch of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) is currently seeking volunteers for its Childline service for Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays.

Cork regional Childline manager Regina O’Sullivan said the service handles both phone calls and online chats with young people who make contact with it.

She said: “This time of the year, we get a lot of calls about exam stress and worry and pressures.”

But, she added: “Every day in Cork, we have one teenager in distress over something that has happened online.”

She said that this includes bullying, sextortion and online grooming.

“When I started volunteering around eight years ago, I had very few interactions around online bullying. But every year, I have seen this grow.”

Sextortion and grooming are big issues, she added. “Teenage boys think they are talking to a beautiful young girl, and they send photos and are then blackmailed for money.”

However, one of her biggest concerns is how girls are being groomed online by men who are much older than them.

She said: 

“Unfortunately, we see a lot of online grooming — a lot of teenage girls who feel they are head over heels in love with men in their 30s. They are talking about running away and leaving Ireland [with them].”

Ms O’Sullivan said a lot of young girls think they have made genuine friends with people online, only to realise weeks later that the person they are chatting with is much older.

Among the key traits of someone engaging in online grooming are a desire to keep the communication a secret, a request to move to a more private platform, and requests for personal images.

Computer game

Last year, a computer game designed to spot the key signs of online grooming was developed for rollout for in-class teaching. 

The game was designed under the GroSafe project in a partnership between the ISPCC and TU Dublin, funded by Research Ireland.

Earlier this year, members of the Oireachtas children’s committee were told by Assistant Garda Commissioner Angela Willis that gardaí identified 16 children in Ireland last year who were suspected of being victims of online exploitation and harm. 

She said the force had identified 151 children worldwide.

Last month, the Irish internet watchdog, Hotline.ie, published its annual report for 2025, showing that a total of 61,317 reports were processed by it last year. The reports included child sexual abuse material, child grooming, and intimate image abuse.

Volunteers are being sought for four hours a week, and training will be provided. The Childline service is run from ISPCC’s office on Penrose Wharf in Cork city.

• Those interested in volunteering can contact Regina on volunteerrecruitment@ispcc.ie or on 087 9860347.