Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this Topical Issue matter on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality. I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter as it provides me with an opportunity to inform the House that the current average processing time for Garda vetting applications is, in fact, four weeks from date of receipt. This is not considered to be an unacceptable delay in processing times for Garda vetting applications. Any vetting process will take a certain minimum amount of time to complete. Taking into account the need to protect children and vulnerable adults, while providing an effective and efficient service, this period is not unreasonable.

The Garda central vetting unit, GCVU, provides for employment vetting for organisations, registered with the Garda for this purpose, which employ persons in a full-time, part-time, voluntary or training capacity in positions where they have substantial, unsupervised access to children and-or vulnerable adults. Garda vetting applications are processed in chronological order, based on the date of receipt in the GCVU. All organisations registered for the purpose of Garda vetting are aware of the processing timeframes and have been advised to factor them into their recruitment and selection processes.

Approximately 18,000 organisations are in receipt of vetting services from the GCVU, covering a wide range of health, educational, sports and recreation sectors. The GCVU provides ongoing support and advice for these organisations in managing their vetting requirements. To put some perspective on the matter, in 2014 the GCVU processed over 318,000 applications, while up to 293,292 have been processed to date in 2015. The majority of these applications were dealt with in the average four week processing time referred to. Processing times can fluctuate, depending on seasonal demands and volumes of applications received. On occasion, further inquiries have to be conducted in respect of some applications. In such instances, processing times may be longer than the general average. Given the primary objective of the vetting process, the Deputy will agree that the necessity for a thorough inquiry is understandable. I will undertake, however, to pass on the specific concerns he has raised to the Minister for her attention.

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