Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 87: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if legislation has been prepared to allow for the appropriate dissemination of soft information regarding people who may be a threat to children; when it is expected that such legislation will be published; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45542/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children (JCCAC) submitted an interim report to the Oireachtas on 11 September, 2009 which recommended that the Government establish a statutory scheme for Garda vetting, for the regulation of the collation, exchange and deployment of hard and soft information for the purpose of child protection. This legislation is a priority for the Government. The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, in conjunction with the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform, is currently preparing Draft Heads of a Bill for consideration by the Government.

At a cross departmental level, it has been agreed that a single statutory agency should have responsibility for the management of all information, hard and soft, on child abuse in this jurisdiction.

The Heads of Bill on Soft Information that will be presented to Government for approval will include a proposal that the Garda Vetting Unit, based in Thurles, will be put on a statutory basis and that this statutory body would have responsibility for the management of all soft and hard information. What is envisaged is an agency led by the Garda with the HSE and any other relevant body working alongside them, similar in structure to the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) which has Garda, Revenue Commissioners and Social and Family Affairs co-located together under Garda leadership.