Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are a lot of requirements in the supervision of volunteers in the City of Dublin Youth Service Board, while some volunteers have to complete the Tusla online safeguarding programme. Some older people do not have the IT skills to do this and some of the retraining courses are being offered at times that do not suit volunteers because they work on a full-time basis. Some may feel insulted that after many years of volunteering they now have to be Garda vetted.

For example, I have some 40 years behind me of volunteering with a youth service. If I was to go back and offer the service one night per week I would have to be Garda vetted. Another example is a youth service whose buses are now under Tusla, but Tusla is saying that it does not recommend using volunteers even though the service has been using volunteers with clean driving licences for many years. The alternative is that the youth service now must train some of its own workers, at a lot of expense, to be drivers and to have the D licence. I agree with the paid youth service conditions of employment but the volunteer is the person who can give the hours late at night, who can work weekends and holidays. They are not looking for overtime and they are not looking for time off work.

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