Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Regarding the Deputy's core question, the new vetting unit in Thurles will be made available to everyone who has substantial unsupervised access to children. That includes a great range of persons in the education sector. It also encompasses many of the voluntary bodies. It has been decided in principle in the Department that there will be no charge to volunteer groups for vetting they seek. We are considering a modest charge for other applications because the Department has found that some employers are inclined to submit far too many applications with regard to the number of posts being filled, and that is a substantial burden on the vetting unit. Many of the positions are of course State positions so it will be a matter of transfer between different State authorities.

The report also looked at the wider issues raised by Deputy Stanton and work on them is ongoing in the Department. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and I are giving consideration to the introduction of legislation in this area in accordance with the recommendations of the report of the working group on Garda vetting, but it is not possible to give timeframes. The priority is to get the unit up and running in Thurles as quickly as possible.

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