Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the opportunity to speak to this Bill today, given the day that is in it. Within the last hour we have seen the publication of the wording of the constitutional amendment for the children's referendum, yet another example of the Government's long overdue commitment to our children and vulnerable people in our society. I hope that people in positions of influence will now read the wording, and I note some senior members of the Judiciary were able to comment in advance of the publication of the wording. I found that very curious, particularly given the legal background of these people. There has been support this morning from people who deal with our most vulnerable children, such as Barnardo's and the Irish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

This legislation is long overdue, as we have seen from the Ferns, Ryan, Cloyne, Dublin Archdiocese and Kelly Fitzgerald reports. I compliment the Minister, Deputy Shatter, but we must ask why this legislation could not have been brought forward by the previous Government, given that a joint committee brought forward these recommendations in 2008. Nonetheless, I welcome the Opposition's support.

To date there has been a voluntary system, and most of us involved in politics have had many representations about the speed of processing of 300,000 applications each year. It is welcome that the waiting time is now approximately two weeks rather than three or four months. I encourage the Minister to put in place all the necessary support to allow for the changeover from voluntary to statutory systems so we do not regress to long waiting times. For people running voluntary and sporting organisations in particular, or people taking up employment, a quick and streamlined vetting process is vital.

The main concept in the Bill is that what is termed "soft information" held by the Garda, where criminal investigation has not taken place, can be released. It is vital that there be a quick appointment of an independent appeals officer because where information is described as "soft", it may not have been strong enough to give rise to a criminal prosecution.

Therefore, it is important that the appeals officer does not require in the ambition of protecting children that the information which comes to him or her is strong enough to force court proceedings because by definition it cannot do so. The balance of power must fall in favour of our children. It is also noteworthy that anyone who is the subject of this information will be given the legal right to challenge. I also welcome the clarification on sporting and voluntary organisations and people occasionally involved with minding and protecting young people. Several years ago I was on a parents committee and a proposal for a walking bus, whereby children would be escorted to school with a rotation of parents walking with them, could not continue because of the onerous child vetting procedures at the time. At least now we will have absolute clarity on what is required and what is not.

We are speaking about soft evidence but there is also hard evidence. I spoke to a very senior garda who highlighted an issue I would like to bring to the attention of the Minister of State with regard to the collection of DNA evidence, which would be hard evidence. In an investigation of any crime involving DNA evidence, and today we are discussing perhaps sexual crimes involving vulnerable people and children, the DNA evidence can be collected and stored only for the particular investigation. If people are deemed to be potential suspects in a crime involving DNA evidence the Garda must again collect DNA evidence from the suspects. Evidence cannot be held in a central database. This causes a number of difficulties, the most important being that gardaí are not efficiently seeking those they should be by being able to discount those for whom they already have DNA evidence. This has huge resource and cost implications. It also impacts on those who are innocent who must return to a Garda station and voluntarily submit their DNA to be cleared. This issue has been highlighted as an area that needs to be addressed.

I welcome the Bill and reiterate the call for an independent assessment of disputes, which needs to be efficient and have statutory support to fall on the side of vulnerable children where a dispute arises.

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