Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Bill, which is very important. The need to vet people who have access to children or vulnerable persons is vitally important as is the need to ensure there is an adequate and timely vetting service available to people. The Minister said approximately 300,000 vettings take place every year. I wonder how many of those 300,000 are duplications. In 2003, around the time of the Special Olympics, I was vetted because I was chairperson of a host committee in Killybegs. To date, I still have not heard whether I passed. I presume the fact I have not heard means I was probably an acceptable person. That is an important issue, although I know it is nine years down the line.

Over the last year or so I have been contacted by a number of people about a number of different cases which I would like to outline.

One case involved a trainee nurse who was being vetted by the HSE prior to taking up work experience as part of her training. She had already been vetted by her local GAA club one month previously but as that was not acceptable to the HSE she had to undergo a further vetting procedure. One can envisage a situation in which somebody who gets a job which requires vetting, decides to volunteer in a local GAA club and then finds part-time employment in a local creche would be required to undergo vetting three times in a short period when once would be more than adequate. The Bill should provide for this and amendments should be brought on Committee Stage or else the Minister should at least take account of the issue when he is finalising the legislation.

The Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality has recommended that vetting should be portable. That is vitally important and would overcome the scenarios I have outlined. If a period is defined for the time a vetting will last and re-vetting is also provided for, vetting should be portable. I imagine the Minister envisages a period of something like two years. If an individual has been vetted and happens to change jobs within the two year period, the vetting should accompany him or her. That would significantly reduce the administrative burden on the 300,000 vettings that take place every year.

Section 11 of the Bill provides for a register of vetted people to be compiled and held by the bureau. It might be useful for organisations to designate a person who can access the register to find out details about an individual who is about to volunteer or take up employment with the organisation. The designated person could, for example, enter the individual's PPS number in the register and confirm whether he or she has been vetted within a relevant period. That would short circuit the need to go through the vetting process again.

Section 19 provides that the vetting bureau shall be informed of concerns. I presume that if concerns are raised about people with valid vetting they will rescind or have an impact on valid vetting. In respect of the organisations listed in Schedule 2 as being required to provide this information to the bureau, the Courts Service should also be listed. The Garda will be involved in pursuing convictions but the courts should be required to notify the bureau when somebody has been convicted of an offence. That should form part of the reporting procedures.

Deputy Halligan referred to the provision for re-vetting under section 20. This is not envisaged to come into effect for the foreseeable future due to staffing constraints. That is not acceptable. Re-vetting should form an integral part of the Bill. It should not be subject to employment embargoes or resource constraints. Earlier today the Taoiseach announced that wording for a children's rights referendum is to be published and we are putting Children First on a legislative basis. Surely a re-vetting procedure should be implemented as part of that overall package. The Minister should ensure that resources are made available to the vetting bureau so it can carry out its work as soon as this legislation is passed.

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