Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to come here chun cúpla focail a rá ar an mBille. I thank the Minister for Justice and Equality, which I do not often do, for introducing a Bill on which a great deal of groundwork was done by the former Minister of State with responsibility for children, Deputy Barry Andrews, and, in Private Members' time, by Deputy Dara Calleary. Many Members regularly come across constituents who have made a simple mistake and done something stupid which they regret for life. It is time we addressed that.

I have two penalty points which I received ag teacht go dtí an Teach seo. I was coming here and did not even know I had been given points. I was in no particular rush as I was late for most things that Tuesday evening. When I returned home on Friday morning, the penalty notice had arrived to my office. I make it clear that I did not ring anybody and nobody rang me to say I could, should or would have the points removed. To be fair to gardaí and members of local authorities, I do not think they go around ringing people to tell them how to get off penalty points or rudaí mar sin.

The Garda vetting system is a shambles. There was nothing like Garda vetting when there were local gardaí who knew every family in a parish and could tell in good faith by the way a person behaved and because of the support they gave what type of family someone came from. They would often give a fellow the benefit of the doubt. We now have a centralised system from which one has to wait six months for a result. Somebody looks at a computer and provides Garda vetting about someone he or she has never heard of. It is a farce. A participant in the community employment scheme of which I am the chairman came to me in awful distress two months ago having received a letter from the Department of Social Protection. He has worked with us for three years and disclosed to us at interview that he had a conviction for drink driving. While that is a criminal offence, it does not represent a threat to society. We disclosed it also, but someone in FÁS discovered it lately and decided that it was terrible and that he could not work with us because he had a conviction. There are farcical situations such as that. In some instances, one is compelled to take on others. I am glad to see the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, has arrived in the House.

We all know about employers - I am one myself - and they give people the benefit of the doubt within reason.

There are many good things in the Bill but the Garda vetting system is a farce. I am not blaming gardaí. It has been taken away from local gardaí. In the past, a call was made to the local Garda station about a person and a garda could vouch for the person. They knew the people because they had stood in their kitchens. Now it is all bureaucracy and people must wait six months for Garda vetting. It is crippling employers and community organisations and is devastating to participants. Then, they are vetted by people who have never heard of them and know nothing about them. We need to address that point because this is a case of ticking boxes and is useless.

I do not mind Garda vetting because we have to have it in child care, which I am involved in. If a man is sweeping the streets on a community employment scheme, three years later they might ask why he did not disclose that he had a conviction for drink-driving, even though he did so.

See this speech in context