Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I cannot answer a hypothetical question but security clearance is a radically different proposition from vetting provided by the central vetting unit. It arises in another question later today so I will not trespass on that but "soft" information, as opposed to "hard" information, is a requisite in a security vetting procedure whereas, as the Deputy knows, the inclusion of soft information on people on public records for use in the vetting procedure is problematic. I stress that negative clearance, which is what vetting amounts to, is not a substitute for a proper duty of care on those involved in recruiting people to perform functions involving children. Simply finding that somebody has no criminal record is not for the most part an adequate measure of the suitability of a person to undertake a task involving unsupervised access to vulnerable people.

See this speech in context