Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and welcome the Bill. Fianna Fáil broadly supports the measures outlined in the legislation to clarify and consolidate the vetting process. We have, however, two concerns about the inclusion of childminders who are working on a commercial basis and the provision of sufficient resources to back up the measures outlined in the Bill.

The Bill places the current Garda vetting system on a statutory basis, which is important, and it builds on a lot of work that was done on Committee Stage in the Dáil. I welcome the way the Bill was drafted, that the heads were published and groups were invited before the joint committee to make presentations on it. I appreciate the work that has gone into it.

The Bill makes vetting mandatory for employees and volunteers working with children or vulnerable adults in the organisations covered in the legislation, although other organisations are not mentioned. We also welcome the fact the Bill includes provision for the use of soft information. This is a complicated area and the Human Rights Commission has expressed concerns about the use of soft information. It is important we are able to use it because while there should be safeguards in place, we are not protecting children if we only bring forward concerns about those with actual convictions. If an individual has not been convicted but there are sufficiently strong concerns about that person working with children, such as his or her having been questioned by gardaí several times on related matters, it is important that is captured. We must ensure the right protections are there to reconcile the use of soft information with people's constitutional right to a good name. It is important for those safeguards to be put in place.

We are concerned about the non-inclusion of childminders. As many as 75,000 children in the country are being minded by childminders. Leaving that sector totally outside the Bill leaves a lot of children without protection. We would argue that more work should be done to bring the childminding sector within the remit of the legislation, particularly those working on a commercial basis. No one is suggesting a grandmother would need to be vetted before she could mind her grandchildren but there are people working as nannies and au pairs in the home setting and such people should be regulated and vetted. They are in an unsupervised setting with children in the home and more work must be done on this.

We also want to ensure sufficient funding is put in place to back up the aspirations in the Bill. The Bill extends the sort of information that will be captured but unless sufficient funding is provided, that will lead to more delays in having people vetted. As the Minister is aware, there are already significant delays, an issue that has been brought to my attention by local groups, and these are causing real difficulties for voluntary organisations in particular. It is vital the resources are provided to ensure the vetting bureau can do its job.

The release of resources within the Teaching Council to enable existing teachers to be vetted is also a matter of concern. The last Government introduced vetting of new teachers and it was always intended that would be rolled out to existing teachers in order that all teachers would be vetted. The Minister for Education and Skills, however, has admitted on many occasions that there are 40,000 teachers who have not been vetted. That is a matter of huge concern. The Minister confirmed at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection when I raised it that the problem was not that the Teaching Council did not have the resources, it was not allowed to use them because although it was a self-financing organisation funded through fees from teachers, it was subject to the recruitment embargo; therefore, it could not hire the necessary personnel to do it.

This must be sorted out immediately and all existing teachers must be vetted as soon as possible. I also highlight the need to ensure adequate training within the sector. If child care protection really is to be improved, one must ensure the provision of adequate child protection training for those working within the sector, as well as adequate access to training procedures for staff to again ensure the reality on the ground reflects improved services and protection.

I also wish to mention two other issues, the first of which is there appears to be some confusion about the use of PPS numbers in identifying individuals involved in the vetting process. While the Minister had indicated previously the vetting process could not use PPS numbers, presumably because they are not issued for that purpose, the Bill appears to indicate that such numbers will be used. Consequently, I seek clarity as to the position in this regard because so doing appears to make sense, in that as the PPS number is the best individual identifier available in respect of public administration, it should be used.

The Minister of State referred to the issue of re-vetting and how it is covered by the Bill, which provides there can be periodic re-vetting and retrospective vetting. However, there had been indications from the Government previously that at most, this is a long-term commitment. Fianna Fáil seeks to have this provision speeded up because it considers that even within the context of the limited resources within which everyone is working, priority should be given to child protection and the party certainly would support resources being made available for that purpose. This is important on foot of the referendum that just has been passed on children's rights, which was important in respect of constitutional protection and in setting out the legal aspiration people have to ensure that children are protected. However, that will only make a real difference on the ground if the resources are actually provided. This is the reason that while Fianna Fáil supports this Bill, it considers that it could go further. I would welcome the Minister of State's comments on the issue of commercial childminders and on how they might be involved in the process and on how the requisite resources might be provided for the vetting bureau and for the system as a whole to ensure there are real improvements in child protection on foot of this legislation.