David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, I thank Deputy Deering for raising this important issue. As the House will be aware, Garda vetting for employment purposes is carried out by An Garda Síochána primarily in accordance with the provisions of the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012. In this regard, the primary focus of the Garda national vetting bureau is to seek to enhance the safety of children and vulnerable adults. This is, I am sure everyone agrees, a very important task and it must be done thoroughly and correctly.

The processing system for vetting is working well at present. The Minister is informed by the Garda authorities that the vast majority of vetting applications - in excess of 80% - are processed by the national vetting bureau in five working days or fewer. This timeframe represents a very significant improvement in turnaround times in recent years. In mid-2013 an application for Garda vetting took an average of 14 weeks. This improvement has come about as a result of an unprecedented investment by the Government and the Garda authorities in providing this service, including an increase of over 80% in staffing levels and the roll-out in 2016 of the e-vetting system. The online processing of applications has strengthened the vetting process enormously and the e-vetting service is available to all registered organisations.

In certain circumstances processing times for a given application can be longer when, for example, additional inquiries may be necessary or there are errors in the application in an individual case. Delays can also occur in other aspects of the application process which are outside of the control of the Garda authorities, for example, in the submission or return of applications by registered organisations.

I would emphasise that the vetting process demands rigorous procedures to safeguard its integrity and to maintain the highest level of confidence by the public and organisations availing of the service. We must ensure, as far as we can, the safety of children and vulnerable adults, which is paramount. I chaired the committee at the time the pre-legislative scrutiny was proceeding on the national vetting Bill. I would invite colleagues to look back at the committee report and the submissions, which make for very interesting reading. The members of the committee at the time were of the view that we needed a very rigorous process with no wriggle room at all. I am glad to say it is working well, with a turnaround time of five days. I am surprised to hear it would be onerous as it is quite a simple procedure. However, it does, as far as possible, guarantee the safety of children and vulnerable from people who are sometimes very clever indeed in manipulating and getting around systems in order to get involved with children where they should not.

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