Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister for Justice and Equality and his Department on bringing this Bill forward. It forms part of the Government's extensive efforts to reform public services in the area of children and youth affairs. I also compliment the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy France Fitzgerald. I know she was extensively consulted in the preparation of the Bill.

With the upcoming children's referendum, the Government is making a clear statement that the aim of the Government is to protect children, cherish their rights and ensure that we deliver on our responsibilities to the next generation. The Bill will make a big difference to many people. It is important that vetting is put on a clear and statutory basis.

We must understand the size of this problem. Last year, 19,000 organisations and 300,000 people were vetted. This demonstrates the demands on the system. I hope the Bill will ensure that vetting becomes more efficient and speedy. Like Deputy Murphy, I believe delays continue to occur in the system. Deputy Murphy referred to a recent report showing that the vetting period had been reduced to two weeks in 2012. My experience does not reflect this. Delays in vetting are leading to delays in the uptake of places in community employment and JobBridge, especially in the critical areas of child care to which the Minister for Social Protection referred in her contribution.

The framework the Bill puts in place is important as it ensures that the public will have confidence in the process. It not only takes convictions into account, but provides specific information on bona fide concerns to be considered. I will not go further on this issue because Deputy Spring has covered it adequately.

I welcome the recent addition of 20 civilian employees to the process of vetting queries. This will free up the gardaí and will make the process more efficient. I hope it will make inroads into the substantial backlog.

The exclusion of re-vetting due to resource constraints is worrying. Organisations not covered will have to opt in voluntarily. These issues will need to be considered at a future date. It is important to note that the Bill will make it mandatory for persons working with children and vulnerable adults to be vetted by the Garda. That is to be welcomed. Children at all stages must be protected.

Deputy Spring referred to sole traders. There are vendors who target children and are involved in unsupervised contact with children. This contact can occur at ice-cream vans, specialist sweet shops or play centres where there is unsupervised direct access on a daily and weekly basis. It is important that we do not act in a reactionary way but we must take stock of the risks that exist. Excluding such core groups from the legislation could lead to a migration to non-covered areas. The legislation must be robust. There must be provision for further action that may include irregular unsupervised interaction with children being added to the list or areas where vetting is required, possibly by statutory instrument. That might be a mechanism for keeping the matter under constant review.

I recently spoke to a constituent who, over a period of a year, had to be vetted three times, due to administration issues. This resulted in a waste of Garda time and a loss of earnings. As people in the child care area often change employment, I ask the Minister to consider including a mechanism to allow a person's vetting status to be easily checked and updated. It should be easier to transfer one's Garda clearance to new employment. However, I recognise that putting this process on a statutory basis will lead to a more efficient, secure and responsive system.

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