Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Question 229: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the fact that in response to requests from airport authorities for background checks in respect of persons seeking employment in airports throughout the world, An Garda Síochána issue certificates confirming that the applicant has no criminal record but qualified by the disclaimer this letter may not be construed as proof of no convictions, police certificate, Garda reference, Garda clearance, character reference, security clearance, or any other interpretation thereof; if his attention has further been drawn to the fact that as a result of this situation the employment prospects of Irish nationals seeking employment in foreign airports is severely compromised as current Garda vetting certification is not acceptable to employers; his views on whether such qualified certification by An Garda Síochána is nonsensical and does not meet the needs of Irish applicants for employment in foreign airports; the steps he will take to ensure that a Garda vetting system which is acceptable to airport authorities worldwide is put in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4754/07]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Garda Central Vetting Unit (GCVU) provides an employee vetting service in respect of selected employments involving, primarily, substantial, unsupervised access to children and vulnerable adults. This vetting service is not and does not purport to operate in respect of general employments.

The Deputy would appear to be referring to disclosures issued by the GCVU in respect of applications for access to personal data made pursuant to Section 4 of the Data Protection Act 1988, as amended. Under this provision, a person may apply for a copy of personal data maintained on the Garda Criminal Records Database for his/her personal use only. Such a disclosure states, inter alia, that the document does not constitute a 'proof of no convictions', 'police certificate', Garda 'reference' or Garda 'clearance'.

The reason for this is that searches carried out in response to such requests are conducted solely in relation to the name, date of birth and address as provided by the applicant and not on any variants of these details. Unlike criminal record vetting, which is available only to selected registered organisations, details of possible variant matches are not provided under the data protection search process. This procedure reflects the purpose of data protection legislation, which is not a means of vetting but, rather, is designed to protect individuals with regard to the automatic processing of their personal data.