Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept fully the need for Garda vetting. I think everybody does. The problem is that when there is a change in criteria laid down by a publicly funded organisation such as the Department of Social Protection for community employment and it does not take account of the 12 week time delay for Garda vetting, as in my case in County Limerick and probably every constituency, community employment schemes cannot fill vacancies in the timeframe because of the delays associated with Garda vetting. That is the first aspect of my point.

The second aspect, which is equally important, is that this is not a continuous living process. Once one is vetted and one does not change or move job, one is never vetted again. That system needs to be looked at. There needs to be a continuous system. It needs to be joined up, between the Department of Social Protection, the Courts Service and the Garda, to ensure that if something happens after a person is vetted, such information is properly fed in and that potential employers would have access to a much easier streamlined system than what is there, which is cumbersome, archaic and taking far too long.

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