Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

I would like the Minister of State's views on the issue of a vetting system for people who deal with children or vulnerable adults. Undoubtedly there is a difficulty nowadays in that people are somewhat reluctant to volunteer because of revelations in various areas that people abused clients. This is very important in terms of people having the confidence to become involved in the area.

On the issue of in-service training for people involved in volunteering, is the Minister of State disposed towards making money available for this training? I gather from previous replies that he does not intend to introduce legislation to deal with this sector. As argued in the report, there is a real need to provide incentives for people to become involved in the sector.

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