James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To be clear, people seeking social housing are not Garda vetted under the Garda vetting Act or in any other shape or form. The local authority can request information on a particular person in the context of the specified persons provisions under section 15 of the 1997 Act, including An Garda Síochána, or from another local authority, for that matter. There is a very specific set of circumstances where the local authority can seek information on somebody's criminal record if the person is being provided with housing. It is obviously an operational matter for the Garda Commissioner and An Garda Síochána about how quickly it can process that. I have no doubt that if people have lived in a particular town for their entire life, it is probably relatively straightforward, but if they have been moving around a bit, they will have to contact different superintendents and Garda station and it may be a slower process. I will certainly raise the matter with the Garda Commissioner. Just to be clear, however, people applying for social housing are not Garda vetted.

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