Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, to the House. It is time that the operation of the Private Security Authority, PSA, be reviewed internally and by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to determine whether it is operating effectively.

Ireland was the last country in the EU to provide a licensing system for the private security industry. The legislation was passed in 2005 and the PSA was established in 2007. I was spokesman on justice at the time and there were vague estimates of the number of operatives in the sector. Depending on who one met in the industry, the number varied from 12,000 to approximately 18,000. After two years in operation, the PSA has licensed 22,000 individuals as private security guards, night club bouncers, hotel and pub doormen, private investigators, installers of security equipment, etc. Clearly, there is a large private security sector. With the Garda at 15,000 personnel and an Army of 10,000, the private sector rivals the public security forces.

It was unacceptable that the Garda and the Army should have highly trained, qualified and regulated personnel whereas those in the private sector needed no training, qualification or regulation and little supervision. The situation needed to be addressed, but the manner in which that has been done has retained many of the problems. The fact that more than one third of those who have been licensed in the past two years were foreign nationals is a matter of concern because all they have to do is present a foreign criminal record certificate. The PSA made no contact with embassies or the licences' issuing authorities. Nor did it ask the Garda to perform background or Interpol checks. Some 7,400 of the licences came from foreign national sources. This is an unsatisfactory situation. While every foreign national is entitled to apply, people should be obliged to be vetted in a robust fashion.

It is simple for people of parliamentary groups, ex-special forces personnel or other various unsavoury and unsuitable people to acquire Irish private security licences. This is not good enough. Therefore, it is time to review the criteria and procedures of the PSA. The Garda and Interpol must have a role in ensuring that people who interface with Irish people through the private security industry are of the highest calibre irrespective of whether they are Irish or foreign nationals.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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On behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I welcome the opportunity to set out some details of the work of the PSA. Established under the Private Security Services Act 2004, it is the regulatory body with responsibility for regulating and licensing the private security industry. The authority is an independent body. Although it operates under the aegis of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, which provides its funding, the Minister has no role in the granting or refusal of licences.

The Minister is informed that, following the establishment of the PSA, the licensing of contractors commenced in April 2006. The next people to be licensed were individuals working as door supervisors and security guards, work that commenced in April 2007. In the past three years, the authority has received in excess of 1,750 contractor applications and 30,000 individual applications.

Licences issued to individuals are backed by a recognised qualification, which ensures that all those working in the industry have been trained to a high standard. The authority has put in place a standards and qualifications based licensing system which also involves criminal records checking for all applicants. Contrary to what has appeared in some newspapers during the past number of days, the Minister understands that all applicants are vetted by An Garda Síochána before any licence is issued.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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That is not true. There is no requirement in the legislation to do so.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is the de facto position. This means that in excess of 33,000 people working in the security industry in Ireland have been vetted by An Garda Síochána on behalf of the authority. In addition, applicants who have resided outside of Ireland for a period of six months or more are required to provide the authority with a criminal record certificate from that jurisdiction. All Garda vetting results and foreign criminal record certificates are assessed against the authority's guidelines on criminality and applications are refused where convictions are deemed relevant, in accordance with the guidelines. While it is inevitable in any such procedures that the issue of dealing with such applications from persons who resided outside the jurisdiction is more complex, the criminal record checking process and criminality guidelines are constantly monitored and validated to ensure the effectiveness of these systems.

The Private Security Authority has also informed the Minister that before issuing a licence the authority will consider whether a contractor or individual is of sufficient standard to be deemed fit and proper to work within the security industry. In the case of contractors, this requires compliance with both management and operational standards, compliance with criminal records checking and compliance with tax and other regulatory requirements. The authority will also look at the previous business history of the applicant with particular emphasis on compliance with statutory responsibilities. In the case of individuals, applicants must obtain a relevant qualification and comply with criminal records checking. To date the authority has issued 22,037 individual licences. The remainder have either been refused, withdrawn or are still being processed.

The Minister understands that the licensing regime is supported by a resolute enforcement strategy undertaken by the authority's dedicated enforcement team. The authority is very proactive in its enforcement policy and targets those who are unlicensed and those who hire or employ unlicensed contractors or individuals. The monitoring of licensees is also important to ensure that they continue to operate within the remit of their licence. The enforcement team works in close co-operation with other State agencies and undertakes inspections at locations throughout the country including at night and on weekends. To date the authority has brought successful criminal prosecutions against 21 unlicensed operators while more than 600 consumers of security services have terminated contracts with unlicensed providers.

The Minister is glad to have had this opportunity to apprise the House of the excellent work undertaken by the Private Security Authority since its establishment. When one considers the environment which existed prior to regulation against that which exists today it is evident that the security industry in Ireland has benefited greatly from the establishment of the authority. The transformation which regulation has brought about has been remarkable and has had many positive benefits for the industry, the wider business community and the public. The introduction of a standard based licensing system has improved the service provided by contractors, removed unscrupulous security providers from the industry and restored public confidence in a multi-billion euro business.

The introduction of regulation in a previously unregulated industry will always present challenges for both the regulator and the industry. The Private Security Authority is committed to consulting with all stakeholders and considers the opinions of those in the industry in its business planning. Both contractors and employees are represented on the board of the authority along with other stakeholders. The Minister is informed that the workings of the authority are under constant review and improvements to the licensing process are undertaken when required. The authority is currently engaged in reviews in the areas of the cost of regulation, upgrades of existing standards and simplification of the renewal process for individuals.

The licensing of the security industry is a significant body of work which is delivering a professional security service supported by standards and qualifications. The Minister is assured that the authority's licensing process is robust and that the public can be assured that only those who meet the authority's criminality guidelines are licensed. The improvement in the industry brought about by the establishment of the authority should be commended.