Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

This matter relates to the Garda vetting application form. This is a procedure applied by the Garda Síochána in respect of a number of applications for FÁS programmes or from individuals who are involved in sports or youth clubs or charities. It is a form which is provided to individuals who must complete it and bring it to the Garda station where it is completed and stamped by a garda. The provisions of the Children Act 2001 provide in section 258 that where an offence is committed by a person who is under 18 years of age and where that person has a clean record following a three-year period, he or she shall be treated for all purposes in law as a person who has not committed or been charged with or prosecuted or found guilty of or dealt with for that offence. It also provides that information which may be required in any circumstances relating to that person's previous findings of guilt, offences, conduct or circumstances does not have to be revealed.

A young person who may have been in trouble with the law previously is applying for a FÁS course, for example. These are operated by many organisations and the one closest to home in my case is Monkstown community centre. Young individuals who get into trouble with the law but are moving on and are being assisted by the State institutions and community groups in that regard are presented with this form. They dutifully fill it out and record their offences if they exist, not knowing that section 258 of the Children Act 2001 does not require them to do so. This can lead to problems.

With regard to the Garda vetting form, the provisions of section 258 are identified in the form that where a person commits an offence while a child, that information does not have to be disclosed. This is the essence of the matter I have raised. It is an important point. The mere act of being asked to fill out this form without informing the applicant of his or her rights under section 258 is an infringement in itself. It is important that the form discloses the provisions of section 258 and that it is not necessary to provide that information. A young person filling out such a form - they are required to do so by the Garda - would not know that he or she did not have to disclose that information. It is to assist young people who may have got in trouble with the law in the past but are trying to improve their lives that this would be reflected in that procedure and the Garda vetting application form.