Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Yes, I should have been clear. It is the vetting for new recruits. This is done by An Garda Síochána. Has the Minister been made aware of any issues that have arisen as a result of this change in vetting? Are there any cases whereby someone has commenced training and subsequently not come to end of their training because the vetting process decided that they were not suitable?

That is the first question. I asked other Departments whether they actually did the vetting like An Garda Síochána was doing for new recruits and whether it had been changed in line with what was being done in An Garda Síochána, and none of them did. I will move on from An Garda Síochána.

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan raised the issue of prisons. Preparatory work costs a lot of money because it is not everywhere you can put a prison. Let us call a spade a spade. Has any preparatory work been done on where future prison provision will be? We will need more prisons. It takes a considerable time to do that. Has any preparatory work been done on locations for prisons or extensions of prisons?

My third question is on the issue of immigration. We can see placement of international protection applicants across various LEAs. Is there any assessment of the methodology for how international protection applicants are located across the country based on the LEA or the geographical saturation of such applicants in one area over another? In other words, to use layman's language, is there fair distribution geographically?

Finally I have a very direct question on a very recent issue. There was huge controversy in my constituency, of which everyone in the room will be aware, regarding a hotel in Roscrea which was the site of huge protests. This was because the hotel was the last one in the area and it had been signed up to host international protection applicants. The protests went on for a significant period, so much so that, pretty ridiculously, the Government put forward a six-figure sum to look at the possibility of buying a closed hotel in the town, which is the stupidest thing I have ever heard, and I said that. However, in recent times - obviously this is none of the Minister's business - the owner of the hotel has applied to add 60 rooms to the building. This hotel is being used for international protection applicants at the moment. The Minister's predecessor and other members of Government said that a protocol had been put in place whereby they would no longer be taking any hotel that was the last hotel in a given town or geographical location, etc. I am not asking or expecting the Minister to get involved in a contractual situation. A decision was made at Government level and announced by the Taoiseach that this would not happen again. Is that still the case? In that scenario, the hotel would return to its original use, which is as a hotel, and the community would get back the only place they had for weddings, birthdays, christenings, communions and confirmations. Will the Minister confirm that this is still the case?