Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I also welcome the Bill. It is an important step forward. All the contributions to the debate have recognised that.

I am struck by the coincidence of concerns on every side of the House, particularly relating to the issue of childminding. Like other speakers, I would appreciate the Minister of State taking these concerns into consideration.

One of the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality related to the idea of an individual vetting certificate that could be transferred from one employment to another. That was an excellent suggestion. Like Senator van Turnhout, my experience of working in the voluntary sector is that people move within the sector from one employment to another and tend to remain within the same sector. The idea of a single certificate makes sense. In dealing with the thorny issue of child care, and private child care is not covered by the legislation, the idea of an individual being able to apply for an individual and personal vetting certificate would be a way to progress this debate. The Bill only allows for an approved organisation to make an application for a vetting disclosure. Anyone working individually in a child care scenario or with children in any capacity, including, for example, the giving of grinds, cannot make a personal application for a vetting certificate. Enabling an individual to make an application would be an interim step along the way, where those persons who are engaged in child care could make an individual application for a vetting certificate.

An estimated 28,000 childminders are operating within the child care system. The Bill will carry a two-tier child care system down the track. On the one hand, we have a regulated child care system where a parent has the security of knowing that everyone in that system has been vetted. On the other hand, there is the black economy where many children are being very appropriately cared for in appropriate circumstances. Other Ministers have expressed the view that it would be an extreme step to require vetting of all child care professionals, given the extent of the child care system which is, effectively, in the black economy.

I ask the Minister of State to consider changing the legislation to enable an individual to make an application for a vetting certificate. In that way we could move in a stepped manner towards a system where, when a parent interviews someone for a child care position they can, at least, make a choice between someone who has been vetted and someone who has not. I put this forward as a way of dealing with the situation as it stands. I accept that we cannot just move child care out of the black economy in one fell swoop.

I share other Senators' concerns about delays. Again, my voluntary sector experience shows me that delays in the vetting process far exceed eight weeks. Delay is definitely a difficulty in the voluntary sector.

I am concerned about resourcing issues. I welcome the Minister of State's comment on sections 22 to 32 that the legislation will be reviewed annually to ensure that it is working adequately and that the bureau is adequately staffed and resourced. My concern is that the bureau as currently constituted is not adequately staffed and resourced and by extending its remit we are ensuring that it will be even less adequately staffed and resourced. If we are serious about this legislation a commitment must be made to provide more staffing and resourcing.

I am concerned about the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Act. I voiced my concerns in the course of the debate on the Bill. It is neither fair nor just to deny someone an opportunity to mend their hand at any point in their life. It is particularly invidious to allow someone to have a spent conviction while requiring them to disclose it when seeking certain types of employment. Having to disclose a conviction does not mean one is prohibited from employment. In reality, however, we all know that by forcing disclosure of a conviction, perhaps in someone's very young years, that person is, in fact, disbarred from certain employments. Many vulnerable children live in impoverished communities where their role models will have convictions. We must look again at the spent convictions provision.