Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 4: To ask the Minister for Education and Science when a register of persons considered unsafe to work with children and vulnerable adults will be established; when all personnel with access to children and vulnerable adults in the education system will be subject to vetting by the Garda central vetting unit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27797/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Ensuring the protection, health and welfare of children is a key concern for the Government, for parents, for agencies that work with children and for society generally and I assure the Deputy that the Government is determined to do all that we can to keep our children and vulnerable adults safe.

In improving our child protection procedures, the Government has focused on extending the capacity of the Garda vetting unit to ensure greater availability of vetting checks for employers who want to check the background of prospective employees.

While the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has primary responsibility for Garda vetting, I am happy to outline the progress being made in the expansion of the service.

My colleague Deputy Brian Lenihan, Minister of State with special responsibility for children at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, has already announced a doubling of the number of staff employed in the unit to ensure they can handle a greater volume of requests from employers. The unit will commence the augmentation of its existing vetting arrangements upon decentralisation targeted for mid-November this year. The provision of additional staff resources will enable the Garda Síochána's vetting services to be extended to all persons working with children and vulnerable adults, including teachers and caretakers.

In the education sector, vetting is currently available in respect of requests for clearance from my Department regarding bus escorts and special needs assistants provided to children, and to staff working in children's detention schools.

It is worth pointing out that, irrespective of whatever additional arrangements may be introduced in this area in future, criminal record checks, while in the appropriate circumstances being capable of making a significant contribution to ensuring that unsuitable persons do not secure positions of trust, are not the sole answer to ensuring applicants' suitability for posts.

There will continue to be a particular onus of care on employers to maintain good employment practice, both during the recruitment stage, for example, good interviewing practice and checking references, and to ensure adequate supervision arrangements after recruitment.

The issue of establishing a non-Garda, employment-related vetting register to provide information on those previously dismissed, suspended, moved or made redundant from posts for harming children or vulnerable adults in the health and education sectors is also being considered. A working group made up of representatives from the Departments of Education and Science, Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Health and Children is carefully considering the best way forward in that respect.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The Minister has said this is a key concern for the Government. However, it has not taken any action to show that. She stated that a working group is examining this issue, but last year another working group reported on the same issue. Is this working group in addition to the last one?

I accept that the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy Brian Lenihan, announced almost a year ago that he would double the staff of the central vetting unit, but they have still not come on stream. I am sure the Minister is aware that a convicted sex offender operated as a school bus driver in County Laois this year. What checks has her Department and she carried out to ensure that the same thing is not happening elsewhere? That is the most important point.

When does the Minister intend to make the necessary legislative changes to ensure that we establish a register of persons considered unsafe to work with children? They are still listed in section C of the legislative programme. I accept the Minister's point, which I also made in the House when Fine Gael debated this issue two years ago this December. We were told that progress was being made. We are very close to the second anniversary of that debate, which sadly coincided with the case of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in England. Unfortunately, the Minister has yet to take this issue seriously and ensure that something of that sort could not happen here. I ask her to outline to the House when she intends to prioritise those issues.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The difference between the two working groups was that the first set out recommendations, and the second is deciding how to implement them. It is very much an action group, being chaired by the Garda Síochána, and has representatives of the Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Education and Science and Finance, as well as the Office of the Attorney General and the chief executive officer of the ISPCC. It is targeted at implementation.

The decision was taken on the recommendation of the working group to go ahead with doubling the numbers of staff employed by the vetting unit. That was a very practical way of ensuring that people could get the clearance. That will occur from mid-November and will offer a service to children and other vulnerable groups. Like the Deputy, I was appalled at what happened in Laois, where it was reported a convicted sex offender operated as a school bus driver. We understand that the private contractor changed the driver on the service without informing Bus Éireann, something that it is required to do under the terms of its contract. Bus Éireann immediately rectified the situation. Not only was the driver immediately withdrawn from the service, but the contract with the firm concerned was also terminated. The action taken proves that the children's safety is the priority.

The legislation regarding a register was always designed to be implemented on a cross-Border basis so that it would cover the entire island, owing to the movement of people from one jurisdiction to another. This is the way it should progress because that hiatus remains in our cross-Border working arrangements.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The system in place in Northern Ireland is effective. The authorities there have not allowed the inadequacies of the system in the South to delay them in implementing developments in this regard.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Our aim is to establish a register that will cover both jurisdictions. Progress can be made in this regard when the Northern Ireland system is back on track and a full working relationship between authorities on both parts of the island is restored. In the meantime, the vetting unit will be doubled in size and will be capable of vetting increased numbers.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The Northern Ireland system is very much on track. It may not function on an all-island basis but it is unfair to suggest it is not on track. The Minister has not answered one of my questions. Has she instructed all bus operators to ensure that the situation which arose in Laois cannot recur elsewhere?

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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One hopes it cannot recur but we are dealing with a situation involving a number of bus companies, private contractors and large numbers of individual drivers. The important issue is that Bus Éireann will, on our behalf, ensure the correct procedures are put in place. Where issues have come to light, the company has dealt with them efficiently.

I did not mean to imply that the system in Northern Ireland is not working well. My point is that cross-Border co-operation in this regard is not effective. Progress will be made on this when the cross-Border bodies are functional once more.