SOME OF THE biggest names in Irish music are to participate in a two-week-long digital music event to raise funds for Childline.
The event is in cooperation with 2FM, which will broadcast a half an hour of live music from a different artist each night at 7pm beginning on Friday.
Each of the artists will also stream the live performance on their Instagram account and people following the music will be encouraged to donate to the children’s charity.
Since schools have been forced to close almost a fortnight ago, the ISPCC has reported a 26% increase in users of its Childline website and a similar increase in contacts by phone.
The charity says that home is not a happy place for all children and they do not have their regular support network in schools anymore.
Childline receives 90% of its funding through donations and says it is currently in “dire need” of public support.
The first artist to take part in the live music fundraiser is Hozier, who will also perform on The Late Late Show on Friday.
On Saturday, Danny O’Reilly of The Coronas will be performing, followed each subsequent day at 7pm by Wild Youth, Kodaline, Dermot Kennedy, Picture This and Gavin James.
The line up of the second week has not yet been announced.
Speaking this afternoon, president of the ISPCC Caroline Downey said that the Covid-19 pandemic has increased pressure on its services.
“The stress among young people, being sexually, physically and emotionally abused and the added stress of the pandemic is putting huge demands on the Childline service,” Downey said.
“All fundraising has ceased, we are in dire need of the public support because 90% of our funding comes from the kindness and generosity of the Irish public. Through the support of all the incredible artists who are taking part and RTÉ 2FM, we hope that this new form of fundraising will enable us to keep our ISPCC/Childline service open and running 24 hours in these unprecedented times.”
You can donate to Children in a number of ways on the ISPCC website.
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