Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I am replying on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Law Reform. I appreciate why Deputy Shatter has raised the matter. All Members of the House will be aware of the current pressures on the Garda vetting service as a result of the increased numbers of applications it is receiving. It may be helpful if I outline briefly the background to the system of Garda employment vetting that is in operation at present. The Garda central vetting unit provides employment vetting to a large number of organisations which are registered with the Garda for this purpose and which employ or engage people in a paid or voluntary capacity for posts where they would have substantial, unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults. The unit releases criminal history information in respect of a person to the prospective recruiting organisation in response to a written request for vetting from a registered organisation. Such a request can only be made with the consent of the person in question. It is important to emphasise that Garda vetting is just one element of the overall recruitment process. A recruiting body or organisation should take a range of other factors into account when coming to a decision on a person's suitability.

The Garda employment vetting service has undergone significant expansion in recent years. This strategic expansion is taking place by means of a phased roll-out to an increasing number of organisations in the child and vulnerable adult care sectors. The House will understand that this target group is and must remain the clear policy priority. The Garda vetting unit has managed a significant growth in the number of vetting applications it receives to the point where it dealt with almost 250,000 applications last year, which represents an increase from 137,000 applications in 2006. The Garda authorities anticipate that approximately 325,000 applications will be made this year. Approximately 18,000 organisations, covering a wide range of health, educational, sporting and recreational sectors, receive vetting services from the Garda vetting unit. The demand for vetting is growing constantly. The Garda authorities deserve credit for achieving an expansion in the vetting service to bring it to its current levels. Significant pressures are affecting the delivery of the service in the current conditions. The Minister for Justice and Law Reform and the Garda authorities are working together to address them. The partnership approach the Garda authorities have adopted with the various organisations that avail of the service will help to ensure their vetting requirements can be addressed and the ongoing programme of expansion continued.

The average processing time for vetting applications fluctuates during the year as a result of seasonal demands, which can cause the volume of applications from certain sectors to increase greatly. In any individual case, additional time may be required to process a vetting application. Clarification or further information may be required or other inquiries may need to be made, for example, when the person in question has lived and worked abroad. The Garda authorities indicate that the average processing time for valid applications received at the vetting unit may vary from four to five weeks in periods of lower demand to approximately 12 weeks at times when demand is especially high, as is the case at present. The Garda central vetting unit has advised the registered organisations of the need to take the processing timeframe into account in their recruitment and selection processes. A reasonably significant time period will always be required to process a vetting application, given the nature of the checks which are needed and the importance of ensuring the process is carried out thoroughly. The Garda makes every effort to reduce this to the minimum period possible, consistent with carrying out the necessary checks.

Responsibility for the deployment of Garda personnel is an operational matter for the Garda Commissioner, taking into account all his requirements. From the outset of the expansion of the vetting service, significant additional resources have been deployed to the vetting unit. A total of 88 personnel are assigned to the vetting unit, including six gardaí and 82 Garda civilian personnel, including ten additional temporary personnel who were recruited in recent months to help to deal with the high volume of applications.

Taken in the aggregate, these figures represent a very significant increase in the level of personnel assigned to the vetting unit, which stood at only 13 before the current process of developing the Garda vetting service began in 2005. That being said, the Minister and the Garda authorities are determined that as effective a vetting system as possible is provided. In that context, the overall staffing arrangements at the vetting unit are under review at present in light of the increasing demands being made on the Garda vetting service by the registered organisations.

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