Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will attempt to provide some clarity. While I cannot guarantee I will, I will do my best. Effectively, when the Bill comes into force, anyone who already is a party to an employment contract, permission or placement can continue in the position he or she is in. The club or organisation or whatever that employed him or her is not committing an illegality under the legislation by retaining him or her. Moreover, it is not instantly compelled to have him or her vetted because quite clearly, when this Bill comes into operation, a range of people will fall into that particular position. However, I am also providing for retrospective vetting where people are in particular employments. One can require, by ministerial order, that over a period of time to be prescribed, vetting can take place. Consequently, although there is no illegality in keeping them in place for the period following the legislation coming into operation, there are areas in which people currently are working who may not have been vetted at any point in time. These areas will be examined and it will be possible, by ministerial order, to bring them into a vetting process and require that within a defined period, such people be vetted. There is a balance in this regard and these are complementary provisions. This is the explanation of how this should work in practice.