SOME 350 children in distress contacted Childline on New Year's Day to talk about problems such as family rows and abuse of alcohol.
On Christmas Day, the children's freephone service (1800-666666) received 604 calls from children and young people.
On a day when most children are preoccupied with presents from Santa Claus, the Childline website had 50 visitors. And four young people posted questions to the online message board at www.childline.ie.
Childline manager Margie Rowe said children's concerns over the festive period included feeling left out of festivities, upset over family quarrels and worry about over-indulgence of alcohol by parents and young people.
Having enough volunteers to answer the calls has been an ongoing problem for the children's charity, but Ms Rowe said the situation was improving.
She said the helpline aimed to be in a position to answer 100 per cent of calls by 2011. Figures for 2008 will not be available until next month, but Childline could only answer 46 per cent of calls in 2007 due to a lack of helpline staff.
Ms Rowe said it was difficult for children to pick up the phone and make a call to Childline, so it was important they got a response.
The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which runs the helpline, has set up a fundraising appeal to help it boost services. It has expanded the Childline service to include a texting service, internet message boards and a live web chat service.
