National FASD Hub Ireland Helpline

FASD Ireland launched the pilot of FASD Hub Ireland on 27th March 2023 with funding from Social Entrepreneurs Ireland. This funding means the Hub can operate until the end of July 2023. The helpline is open Monday to Friday 10am until 4pm, with one team member available using one phone line. In it's first week the helpline received a staggering 55 calls.

We hope to expand our office space to include a further floor space of 123sqm on the ground floor. This will allow us to provide 4 workstations for a new highly trained knowledgable team to answer telephone enquiries seven days a week between the hours of 10:00 and 16:00. We will require workstations equipped with computers and a telephone system that will distribute calls in the order they are received, as well as letting us know when the telephone lines are busy to ensure that we have sufficient cover in place.

Ireland has a population of approximately 5.08million. The World Health Organisation estimated in 2017 that the prevalence of FASDs across Ireland is 4.75%. This means that at least 241,000 people are living in Ireland with FASDs. FASD Ireland is a National organisation, based in Ennis, County Clare and provides education, support and works tirelessly to raise awareness of FASD.

We may be small but we are already packing a punch! We have plans to scale the organisation up. FASD Ireland is a not for profit social enterprise, funded by providing education to organisations including schools, social services and the healthcare industry. We hold workshops for parents and carers, and we rent out our meeting/training space to community groups when we are not using it. Funding is also received from working with businesses that wish to learn more about FASD and support people living with FASD.