Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I would like to start off by paying tribute to the gardaí and civilians working in the Central Garda Vetting Unit. They do a very important job and they do it extremely well. The problem we have at the moment, though, is that essentially they are overwhelmed. As a consequence of all the allegations of child abuse in recent years and the publicity rightly given to that area, far more bodies and groups are seeking the use of the vetting services. The service is in place essentially to ensure a person who is in employment that involves day-to-day dealings with children is vetted. Not only does this facility cover child care staff, social workers and teachers in schools, it also covers those working with children in a voluntary capacity, for example, in sports clubs. It is now possible for swimming, soccer and Gaelic games coaches, for example, to be vetted by the Garda vetting unit. There has been a substantial increase in the number of clubs and organisations using the service and in the number of people in respect of whom vetting is sought. A total of 187,864 vetting applications were made in 2007, but that figure had increased to 246,194 by 2009.

A number of people have contacted me to raise this issue. Some of them were in a position to start jobs working with children but found that many weeks were passing while they waited for vetting procedures to be adopted. I have spoken to people who are seeking to effect adoptions but are having to wait while the HSE works through the vetting process. People who have offered to do voluntary work in sports clubs have found weeks passing into months without vetting being conducted. It is quite extraordinary that, as I learned in response to a parliamentary question yesterday, as of this week there are 60,000 applicants whose vetting has not yet been completed. It is deplorable. We must provide a service that has the capacity to vet individuals within four weeks of vetting being sought. I accept there will be exceptions in this regard. If proper vetting is to be carried out on certain individuals, information may have to be sought from abroad. In such circumstances, it may not be possible to meet the four-week timeframe. Generally speaking, however, such a timeframe should be met in the cases of individuals who have spent their working lives in Ireland and are seeking full-time employment or offering to do voluntary work here. The blockage that exists means people are remaining unemployed for longer than they need to. As a result, the State is paying social welfare it does not need to pay and jobs that could be properly filled are not being filled. There is a need to appreciate that the vetting unit has a positive impact and should be able to do its important job within a reasonable period.

I understand that ten additional temporary staff have been recruited to the Garda vetting unit in recent weeks. That has happened because an enormous number of people are waiting for their vetting applications to be addressed. At no stage should the backlog of applicants have been allowed to reach 60,000. It is an extraordinary number. We have been informed that the average waiting time is 12 weeks, but that is simply not good enough. I am aware that 380 vetting applications from the HSE were awaiting Garda clearance on 30 August last. A number of them had been awaited for five months, since early 2010. Some of those who are seeking vetting clearance to obtain employment in the HSE are the social workers who are needed in our dysfunctional child care services. Such dysfunction is persisting not because of any fault of the staff of the vetting unit but because of the Government's failure to allow the Garda to recruit additional people in this area.

It is important that I conclude by mentioning that a number of individuals whose assessments for inter-country adoptions have been completed - the HSE is waiting to furnish the assessment reports to the Adoption Board - are waiting for vetting clearance. In many such cases, it is important that reports are sent to the board so it can make a declaration of suitability before 1 November next, when the Adoption Act 2010 will be commenced. If these people do not get a declaration of suitability before that date, they might not be able to adopt in foreign countries where they have been involved in planning adoptions over the past three to four years. It is of the utmost importance that vetting applications are dealt with, in general, within three to four weeks. It is of particular importance for priority to be given over the next week or so to the cohort of individuals whose vetting the HSE is seeking to have completed for the purposes of overseas adoption. If that does not happen, it will be impossible for the Adoption Board to deal with all the applications for declarations of suitability that will be required.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I am replying on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Law Reform. I appreciate why Deputy Shatter has raised the matter. All Members of the House will be aware of the current pressures on the Garda vetting service as a result of the increased numbers of applications it is receiving. It may be helpful if I outline briefly the background to the system of Garda employment vetting that is in operation at present. The Garda central vetting unit provides employment vetting to a large number of organisations which are registered with the Garda for this purpose and which employ or engage people in a paid or voluntary capacity for posts where they would have substantial, unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults. The unit releases criminal history information in respect of a person to the prospective recruiting organisation in response to a written request for vetting from a registered organisation. Such a request can only be made with the consent of the person in question. It is important to emphasise that Garda vetting is just one element of the overall recruitment process. A recruiting body or organisation should take a range of other factors into account when coming to a decision on a person's suitability.

The Garda employment vetting service has undergone significant expansion in recent years. This strategic expansion is taking place by means of a phased roll-out to an increasing number of organisations in the child and vulnerable adult care sectors. The House will understand that this target group is and must remain the clear policy priority. The Garda vetting unit has managed a significant growth in the number of vetting applications it receives to the point where it dealt with almost 250,000 applications last year, which represents an increase from 137,000 applications in 2006. The Garda authorities anticipate that approximately 325,000 applications will be made this year. Approximately 18,000 organisations, covering a wide range of health, educational, sporting and recreational sectors, receive vetting services from the Garda vetting unit. The demand for vetting is growing constantly. The Garda authorities deserve credit for achieving an expansion in the vetting service to bring it to its current levels. Significant pressures are affecting the delivery of the service in the current conditions. The Minister for Justice and Law Reform and the Garda authorities are working together to address them. The partnership approach the Garda authorities have adopted with the various organisations that avail of the service will help to ensure their vetting requirements can be addressed and the ongoing programme of expansion continued.

The average processing time for vetting applications fluctuates during the year as a result of seasonal demands, which can cause the volume of applications from certain sectors to increase greatly. In any individual case, additional time may be required to process a vetting application. Clarification or further information may be required or other inquiries may need to be made, for example, when the person in question has lived and worked abroad. The Garda authorities indicate that the average processing time for valid applications received at the vetting unit may vary from four to five weeks in periods of lower demand to approximately 12 weeks at times when demand is especially high, as is the case at present. The Garda central vetting unit has advised the registered organisations of the need to take the processing timeframe into account in their recruitment and selection processes. A reasonably significant time period will always be required to process a vetting application, given the nature of the checks which are needed and the importance of ensuring the process is carried out thoroughly. The Garda makes every effort to reduce this to the minimum period possible, consistent with carrying out the necessary checks.

Responsibility for the deployment of Garda personnel is an operational matter for the Garda Commissioner, taking into account all his requirements. From the outset of the expansion of the vetting service, significant additional resources have been deployed to the vetting unit. A total of 88 personnel are assigned to the vetting unit, including six gardaí and 82 Garda civilian personnel, including ten additional temporary personnel who were recruited in recent months to help to deal with the high volume of applications.

Taken in the aggregate, these figures represent a very significant increase in the level of personnel assigned to the vetting unit, which stood at only 13 before the current process of developing the Garda vetting service began in 2005. That being said, the Minister and the Garda authorities are determined that as effective a vetting system as possible is provided. In that context, the overall staffing arrangements at the vetting unit are under review at present in light of the increasing demands being made on the Garda vetting service by the registered organisations.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Will the Minister address the adoption issue that I raised?

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I do not have any details on that. It was not that I-----

Michael Kennedy (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)
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I am not at liberty to allow any further debate.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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This is why this process is such a waste of time. Ministers come here and deliver prepared scripts without being able to respond to issues raised.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Ministers do-----

Michael Kennedy (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)
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I apologise but I cannot allow any further debate on the issue.