Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 113: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism his views on the need to vet all sports leaders and coaches who work with children and if such vetting should be compulsory; his views on whether financial support of sporting organisations should be contingent on confirming that such vetting has taken place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4344/10]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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In my view, Garda vetting of all sports leaders and coaches who work with children is of the utmost importance.

The Irish Sports Council (ISC), which is funded by my Department, is the statutory body responsible for the promotion, development and coordination of sport which includes responsibility for dealing with the recognised sporting organisations and allocation of funding to same. The ISC was established on a statutory basis on 1st July, 1999, and the functions of the Council are outlined in Section 6 of the Irish Sports Council Act 1999.

This includes recognition, for purposes of funding or for any other reason, of any sporting or recreational activity, including dealing with sporting organisations and allocation of funding to same. All recognised National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) now have access to Garda vetting through the Irish Sports Council. National Governing Bodies are now implementing vetting across their organizations, on a phased basis, based on their own needs and priorities and their capacity to manage the process.

The Irish Sports Council provides support to National Governing Bodies (NGBs) to implement the recommendations and policies of the Code of Ethics and Good Practice for Children's Sport in Ireland. NGBs are required to comply with these requirements in order to access ISC funding but as Garda vetting is only recently available to NGBs this compliance has not yet been extended to vetting. However, the ISC would hope to make Garda vetting a requirement for NGBs in order to secure ISC funding, in next year's applications.