Without Childline the sexual abuse of a young Sligo girl would never have come to light, a judge said at the Central Criminal Court when he jailed her father for four years.
Mr Justice Butler also praised Garda Sgt James Costello and his Garda colleagues for what he described as "their very sensitive handling" of the case.
The 33-year-old Sligo man was found guilty by a jury in July on 12 charges of sexually assaulting his daughter, now 15, on dates between 1996 and 1999.
"I cannot give enough praise to Childline without which this abuse would never have come to light," said Mr Justice Butler.
The girl told the trial in July she found it very difficult to trust people and said the first person she had been able to talk about the abuse she was going through was "the man who answered the phone" at Childline.
Boy set up stolen CCTV system
A young electronics enthusiast who ripped out a CCTV system from a block of flats and installed it around his home has been given probation after paying €400 to charity.
The 16-year-old boy had managed to connect the stolen equipment to the family television set, the Dublin Children's Court had heard.
Garda Declan Malone said that over three nights the boy had dismantled four CCTV cameras from a lift shaft in a building in Ballymun.
He was ordered to pay the money to charity after pleading guilty to three charges of larceny.
Man cleared of drugs charges
A man has been acquitted by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury of possession of heroin and ecstasy with a combined street value of about € 3.5 million.
Mr Karl Donnelly (31), of Spitalfields, Francis Street, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to having 12 kilos of heroin and 83,000 ecstasy tablets for sale or supply.