Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 282: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the categories of persons working in a paid or voluntary capacity under the aegis of her Department or for agencies or organisations funded by her Department who are subject to Garda vetting to protect against possible child abuse; the timeframe to introduce vetting for all such persons who work with children and are currently not vetted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32063/05]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Garda vetting services are available in respect of public health service employees with substantial unsupervised access to children and vulnerable adults, including employees of agencies funded by the Health Service Executive. In line with the recommendations of the working group on Garda vetting, it is planned that all organisations that recruit and select persons who would have substantial unsupervised access to children should avail — and should be entitled to avail — of the vetting services of the Garda central vetting unit. To this end, the number of staff employed in the central vetting unit run by the Garda Síochána is being doubled to ensure that they can handle a greater volume of requests from employers. The further expansion of the service will allow the vetting of volunteers. The unit will commence the augmentation of its existing vetting arrangements upon its decentralisation which is targeted from mid-November this year.

Ensuring the protection, health and welfare of children and other vulnerable people is a key concern for the Government and I think it is important in that context to make one further point. While criminal record checking of people with substantial unsupervised access to children is a vital component of a well developed child protection system, there are other elements. Good recruitment and employment practices and the checking of references are also an integral part of such a system.