In Ireland, the right reporting route depends on what happened and how urgent it is. Call 112 or 999 if anyone is in immediate danger. Report suspected illegal online content within Hotline.ie’s remit to Hotline.ie, report crimes and child-safety concerns directly to An Garda Síochána, and use the service’s own reporting tool for abusive posts, messages, profiles or accounts. A single incident may justify more than one report.
Keep evidence safely, do not forward suspected child sexual abuse material, and seek emotional or practical support alongside any formal report.
Choose the route by the problem and the urgency
These services have different jobs. Hotline.ie assesses specified suspected illegal content encountered online. Gardaí receive crime and immediate-safety reports. A platform’s reporting function asks the provider to review content or an account under its rules. Coimisiún na Meán deals with failures in the reporting systems of regulated services. Support services help people cope and make practical decisions; they do not replace an emergency call or a crime report.
| Situation | First route | What it can do | Limit to remember |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immediate danger or a crime requiring police attention | An Garda Síochána; call 112 or 999 in an emergency | Receives direct safety and crime reports and can take protective or investigative action. | Do not wait for a platform or online form when someone may be harmed now. |
| Suspected child sexual abuse material, grooming or exploitation content, non-consensual intimate images, racism or xenophobia, or a qualifying Irish-linked financial scam encountered online | Hotline.ie | Analysts assess the report and may arrange referral, takedown action or flagging to a platform. | It is a content-reporting centre, not an emergency service or a substitute for telling Gardaí about a crime. |
| Abusive post, message, profile, account or harmful material on a social, messaging, gaming or other service | The service’s in-app or web reporting tool | Creates a moderation case under that service’s rules. | A platform report is not a police report and may not trigger a criminal investigation. |
| A regulated service mishandles an illegal-content report | Coimisiún na Meán | Can receive information about ineffective reporting processes on services it regulates. | It does not provide emergency response or investigate the underlying crime. |
| Emotional, legal or practical help | A suitable support service, trusted person or professional | Provides counselling, specialist support or help planning next steps. | The appropriate service depends on the person and the type of abuse. |
For example, an intimate image shared without consent can be reported to the platform for removal, to Hotline.ie as suspected illegal content, and to Gardaí if a crime or safety concern is involved. Those routes are complementary, not interchangeable.
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Call Gardaí first when there is danger, a crime or a child-safety concern
Immediate danger
If a person in Ireland or another EU country is in immediate danger or at risk of harm right now, call 112 or 999. Do not wait for a moderation decision, a Hotline.ie response or an email acknowledgement.
Direct crime and child-protection reports
Contact An Garda Síochána directly when you are reporting a crime or suspected criminal activity, when a child may be a victim or at risk, or when the material is on a private device rather than encountered openly online. Hotline.ie also directs people to Gardaí for content shared through encrypted private communications. The Garda Confidential Line is 1800 666 111 for concerns of the types identified in official guidance, including a child at risk.
Hotline.ie may liaise with Gardaí or notify them in some circumstances. That possibility does not remove the need for your own direct Garda report where immediate safety, a child-protection issue or another crime requires police attention.
What Hotline.ie handles
Specified suspected illegal online content
Hotline.ie is Ireland’s national reporting centre for specified suspected illegal content encountered online. Its listed categories include:
- Child sexual abuse material.
- Child sexual exploitation, including grooming.
- Intimate image abuse: intimate images shared without the person’s consent.
- Racism or xenophobia.
- Certain scams purporting to be Irish financial services or otherwise showing an Irish connection.
You do not have to prove that material is illegal before reporting it. Hotline.ie’s analysts assess what is submitted. If material is not illegal but appears to breach a platform’s rules, the service says it may flag the material to that platform. That distinction matters: a platform’s terms can prohibit conduct that does not meet the criminal-law threshold, while some criminal material may need a police report as well as an online-content report.
Hotline.ie states: “If you suspect to have come across sexual images or videos of under 18s online, even if you are in doubt about someone’s age, you should always report it.” The statement is from the Irish Internet Hotline’s “What to Report Online” guidance.
What the service is not
Hotline.ie is not the emergency number, a general police-reporting channel or a route for every unpleasant online interaction. It is not the correct sole route for a real-world assault, a child in immediate danger, images held only on a private device or material exchanged through encrypted private messages. Use Gardaí for those situations.
How to submit a Hotline.ie report
- Identify the online location. Note the service, account or username, post or message location and any relevant URL. Do not open or revisit material if doing so puts you or someone else at risk.
- Select the category that best fits. Use the Hotline.ie form for suspected illegal content within its listed remit. You do not need certainty about legality or a person’s age when reporting suspected child sexual abuse material.
- Describe what you encountered. Give factual details such as when you saw it, where it appeared and why you believe it falls within a reportable category.
- Choose your contact information carefully. Hotline.ie generally supports anonymous reporting. Reports other than intimate image abuse can be submitted anonymously or with contact details. Providing details can allow acknowledgement or follow-up.
- For intimate image abuse, provide an email address. The intimate-image form asks for an email address. Hotline.ie suggests creating a separate address if using a usual address would compromise safety or privacy.
- Submit and keep the reference or confirmation safely. A submission allows assessment; it does not guarantee removal, referral, an investigation or a particular timetable.
If the issue is urgent or involves a person who may be in danger, make the Garda report first or at the same time. An online form should not delay emergency action.
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Use the platform’s reporting tool for posts, accounts and messages
For abuse on a social network, messaging application, game or other online service, use that service’s report function. Garda online-safety guidance identifies the platform abuse-reporting tool as a way to ask a provider to take down offensive or abusive material. Follow the service’s current in-app or web path, select the closest reason, attach safe evidence and keep the confirmation.
What a platform report can address
- A post, image, video, comment or message that breaches the service’s rules.
- An account impersonating, threatening or harassing someone.
- Repeated contact, coordinated abuse or a profile used to distribute harmful material.
- Material that is not clearly criminal but violates the provider’s safety policy.
Platform enforcement can include removal, a warning, a restriction or account suspension, but no outcome or response time should be assumed. A provider’s decision also does not determine whether conduct is criminal. If the facts indicate a crime, report to Gardaí separately.
Escalating a regulated platform’s reporting failure
Coimisiún na Meán’s public guidance concerns the reporting systems of services it regulates. It says people can contact the regulator when they reported illegal content but did not receive a timely reply, the content was not removed, or the service failed to tell them about a decision not to remove it.
This is a process escalation. Include the service name, the date and method of your original report, any case number, the response (or lack of one), and the material’s location. The regulator’s role is to understand and address reporting-system effectiveness; it is not an emergency contact, a replacement for Gardaí or a guarantee that a particular post will be removed.
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General evidence steps
For suspected online abuse of a child, Garda guidance advises staying calm, reassuring the child, not deleting messages, images, apps or accounts, saving evidence, reporting the incident and using the platform’s tools. Preserve information in a way that does not expose the child or spread the material further.
- Record usernames, profile names, dates, times, platform names and URLs where safe.
- Keep original messages and account information rather than editing or annotating the only copy.
- Write a brief chronology while events are fresh.
- Store notes securely and limit access to people who need them for support or reporting.
Suspected child sexual abuse material
Do not download, duplicate, forward or circulate suspected child sexual abuse material. Report the online location and follow Hotline.ie or Garda instructions. If a child may be at risk, make the direct Garda contact promptly. You can preserve non-content details such as the URL, username, date and platform without creating additional copies of the material.
Intimate image abuse
Hotline.ie’s FAQ says that, where it is safe and feasible, it may help to capture a copy of the image and visible context such as the sender ID, date, time and platform. Consider whether creating that copy could expose the image to another person or put the victim at greater risk. Never forward it “for evidence” to friends, colleagues or public groups. If safety is uncertain, preserve identifying details and ask Gardaí or Hotline.ie how to proceed.
Reporting intimate image abuse
Non-consensual intimate-image sharing is one of Hotline.ie’s listed categories. Report the post, account or message through the platform as well, because the provider controls its own moderation tools. Use the Hotline.ie form for the suspected illegal online content and provide the requested email address; a separate email account may be safer if the usual address is known to the person sharing the image.
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A child may be frightened, ashamed or worried that reporting will make matters worse. Stay calm and reassure them that they are not to blame. Do not promise a particular outcome or tell them to confront the sender. Avoid deleting the child’s account or messages before evidence is secured. Record what the child says in their own words, preserve relevant account details, use the platform’s reporting function and contact Gardaí when the child may be a victim, at risk or involved in suspected criminal activity.
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If the material was encountered publicly online, Hotline.ie may be an additional route. If it is on a private device or in an encrypted private conversation, use Gardaí rather than treating Hotline.ie as the sole channel.
Privacy and follow-up choices
Anonymous reporting can be important where identification could create danger or retaliation. Hotline.ie generally permits anonymous reports, while an intimate-image submission requires an email address. For other categories, adding contact details is optional; it can allow acknowledgement or questions from the service.
Before entering personal information, consider whether the device, browser history or email account is monitored. Use a safer device or separate email account where appropriate, and tell a trusted person what you are doing if that improves safety. Keep confirmation messages private. Anonymity can limit the ability of a service to ask clarifying questions, so choose between privacy and follow-up based on the circumstances.
Support alongside formal reporting
Reporting and support are separate decisions. Hotline.ie’s intimate-image-abuse FAQ points affected people toward Irish counselling and specialist emotional-support services. Garda guidance for online abuse involving children also encourages seeking help from support services and a trusted person.
Choose support according to the person’s needs: immediate safety planning, emotional care, help communicating with a school or employer, or assistance understanding reporting choices. Check the current contact method, hours and eligibility of any service before relying on it, because availability can change. A support worker can accompany a report, but should not delay emergency contact when danger is present.
How large is the Hotline.ie workload?
Hotline.ie’s 2025 annual report, titled The Work You Don’t See, reports 61,317 cases. That is the Hotline’s reported case volume for that report; it is not a count of unique victims, substantiated offences or the prevalence of online abuse across Ireland. The figure should not be used to estimate personal risk or to assume that every case had the same outcome.
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- Is anyone in immediate danger? Call 112 or 999.
- Is a child at risk, is a crime suspected, or is the material on a private device or encrypted private communication? Contact Gardaí directly; the Garda Confidential Line is 1800 666 111 for the relevant non-emergency concerns.
- Is the suspected illegal material encountered online within Hotline.ie’s categories? Submit a Hotline.ie report, without downloading or forwarding prohibited material.
- Does the content or account violate a service’s rules? Use the platform’s reporting tool and keep the confirmation.
- Did a regulated service fail to handle an illegal-content report properly? Give Coimisiún na Meán the details of the reporting-process failure.
- Do you need help coping or planning? Contact a suitable support service, professional or trusted person alongside the formal report.
When two or more answers apply, use more than one route. The key is to match the authority to the outcome you need: emergency protection, criminal investigation, content moderation, assessment of suspected illegal material or support for the person affected.
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