John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Bill marks a significant process and progress in the direction of Ireland's commitment to improving child protection and welfare. The process of vetting places a very worthwhile burden on bureaucracy, businesses, community groups, volunteers and prospective adoptive parents. Ireland has been long overdue in meeting the recommendations set out by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2006 and it is vital that anyone working with children or young people is properly vetted.

The original idea of vetting was to supplement good recruitment practice but when inherent flaws in the system make people wait up to a minimum of 16 weeks for vetting to be completed and create a major barrier for many community and voluntary groups doing front line work, then something is not right. If this legislation is not backed up by adequate services which support children's welfare, then it is not worth the paper it is written on. The fact that the national vetting bureau will replace the existing Garda central vetting office does not inspire confidence in me since the office with all its workload and procedures and systems will continue as it is.

The most recent figures available from the Teaching Council of Ireland suggest that thousands of teachers are waiting to be vetted. The Garda vetting unit is doing what it can with very limited resources but the massive backlog is having a significant impact on a range of schemes at a time when voluntary and sporting organisations have never been more dependent on volunteers.

The impact analysis by the Minister's Department predicts that the Bill will not create additional costs to the Exchequer based on the premise that there will not be any significant increases in demand for vetting applications. I do not know where that comes from. However, a significant number of sporting and arts organisations which I have consulted in my constituency believe this legislation will necessitate a massive extension of the current system of Garda vetting. If this occurs, there will have to be significant investment in resources to ensure this new legislation operates in the manner it is intended, and I know it is well intended.

A number of arts organisations, in particular, have expressed concern in regard to the lack of access to vetting for sole practitioners and difficulties for smaller organisations in becoming registered. Can the Minister give assurances as to how these matters might be addressed in the legislation because from reading it, I did not see any significant aspects in it to deal with the vetting of sole practitioners and so on? Freelance arts practitioners do not have vetting available to them and I am aware some are losing out on work due to lack of access to vetting. When the Minister responds, it will be interesting to hear how he intends to deal with that aspect. I am sure other Deputies and public representatives have also been contacted by these groups.

Should this legislation make the intended impact, the Garda vetting system itself needs to be made more efficient and user-friendly. A sharing of data between organisations - of course, with applicants' consent - would remove a large amount of the demand on the system and a duplication of many requests and would be a far more intelligent way of dealing with the vetting process. In particular, an online system would greatly assist revetting by allowing for the identification numbers to be given which would help the portability of the records. We should examine such a procedure. Can the Minister clarify when exactly the proposed online application process will be operational? What funds have been set aside for this to be set up? If we do not move into the 21st century and do it online, we will not go anywhere and we will be back to square one with people waiting 16 weeks or even longer to be vetted which will not help the system. Although the Bill makes provision for the revetting of employees and retrospective vetting of current employers who have not yet been vetted, a lack of resources is likely to prohibit this from becoming a reality any time soon. The Minister needs to step up to the plate and give us time schedules when he responds. The introduction of online processes similar to the access Northern Ireland programme would contribute significantly to the staffing resources.

The underlying theme of the Bill is highly commendable bringing in measures to enhance the safeguarding of children and vulnerable persons. The test will be whether the Government will put its money where its mouth is and ensure that the resources are there to allow an efficient, user-friendly, 21st century model for vetting.

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