Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Given that Garda vetting can determine the future employment prospects or otherwise of individuals whose organisations or companies have applied for vetting, does the Minister think it was appropriate to use interns to process or be in any way part of the processing of the confidential and sensitive material being assessed and processed by the Garda vetting unit, given that not all of this material is necessarily in the public domain? Details disclosed during Garda vetting include details of all convictions or prosecutions, successful or otherwise, and pending or completed prosecutions in the State or elsewhere. Is it appropriate for JobBridge to be used in this way to fill positions vacant due to the public sector recruitment embargo and to carry out policing duties? Does the Minister agree that this is a form of yellow pack policing or public service?

I have been critical of JobBridge but my point has always been to ensure that the internship experience is enhanced and to prevent abuse of these young or older jobseekers. Does the Minister believe that if a criterion is imposed, it needs to be properly resourced? In this case, the Garda vetting unit has not been fully resourced. Is she sure about the work carried out by those interns in that process and have interns been vetting other interns? That is the implication because everyone would have to have been interns.

In respect of the suggestion that interns have a promise of future prospects of employment, there is no possibility of their being recruited into the Garda vetting unit in the future given the Garda and public sector recruitment embargo so the applicants are being sold a pup.

See this speech in context