Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy asked about the anticipated future staff requirement of the vetting unit. The personnel at present are sufficient to deal with work in the short term but the question of volume may arise if we move towards the Scottish model. We are trying to plan so that it does not automatically end up that way. Decisions will be taken on the need for an increase in staff and if charges should be introduced for vetting. The experience in the HSE was that in some cases employers submitted an excessive number of applications when a large number of people applied for a small number of positions. Too many of the applications for vets were wasteful. Clearly, that is an issue we will have to examine so the question of charging may arise. A decision was taken by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to decentralise this unit to Thurles and there was an excess of applications to fill the number of positions available in the vetting unit.

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