Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I acknowledge that there has been progress in this area but I am concerned about the pace of that progress. The Minister of State used the phrase "later on" but I would like a definite timescale for the retrospective vetting of existing employees.

It is difficult to put guidelines in place for this area. How will the Minister assess the extent of unsupervised access? It would be better if all board of management members were vetted because the idea of drawing up the extent of access each member has to children is not straightforward. We have learned from the Ferns Report that a number of people who abused children accessed them through boards of management.

The Minister of State, Deputy de Valera, is familiar with the youth council, which has called for vetting. Most of the affiliated organisations are volunteer based and they feel that vetting is necessary. The question refers to the education sector but that includes the youth work sector. Is there a timescale for retrospective vetting and the broadening of the process to youth organisations? Guidelines will be necessary on who can access and provide the information within these organisations.

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