Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the announcement by the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, of the infrastructure fund. The €200 million that has been announced will, it is hoped, open up 32 sites for housing, which will be very important for the housing strategy. There is a local dimension to that. There are moneys for roads in Cork, but they are very positive and it is a very positive project. There were independent audits regarding which projects got the go-ahead. The independent factor is very important and should be duly noted.

One of the key issues I would like to raise here is in regard to Garda vetting and where we are going with that programme. I note from the newspapers that there are 721 teachers who have still not been vetted and that there is work ongoing towards a resolution of that process at the moment. The entire way we carry out Garda vetting has to be looked at. A person could be vetted four or five times regarding different institutions or organisations they are involved in. That is inappropriate. There should be one vetting and then a person should be on the list. That should be the routine.

I came across an issue in the last few weeks where an under-21 team in a GAA club had minors, that is 17 year-olds, on a team. Given that they were under 18 years of age, they were informed that the rest of the team would have to be vetted because they are in the same dressing room. There has to be logic in this. Someone has to say that Garda vetting is important, but that it makes no sense that there is a need to vet all the 21 year-olds because there is a 17 year-old in a dressing room. Work needs to be done here. A complete reform of the system is required.That needs to happen in order that something can be done speedily about this issue.