Mary White (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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Question 141: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the additional resources and measures he is introducing to deal with the increase in applications for Garda clearance of students studying health-related courses and who cannot participate in work experience programmes without such clearance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8438/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Garda Central Vetting Unit (GCVU) provides employment vetting for a large number of organisations in Ireland registered with the Gardaí for this purpose and which employ persons in a full-time, part-time, voluntary or training capacity to work with children and/or vulnerable adults.

The GCVU has also managed a very significant increase in the numbers of applications it receives each year, rising from 137,600 in 2006 to 246,194 in 2009. The processing time for vetting applications fluctuates during the year due to seasonal demands when the volume of applications received from certain sectors can increase, for training placements for example. Additional time may be required to process an individual vetting application in cases where clarification is required as to the details provided or where other enquiries need to be made. There will always a time period required to process a vetting application. However, the Gardaí make every effort to reduce this to the minimum possible consistent with carrying out the necessary checks. I am informed by the Garda Authorities that the average processing time for valid vetting applications received at the GCVU may vary from four to five weeks in quieter periods to between eight to ten weeks at times of peak demand.

The allocation of Garda resources, including personnel, is a matter for the Garda Commissioner. There is currently a total of 78 personnel assigned to the vetting unit, including six Gardaí and 72 Garda civilian personnel. This represents a very significant increase in the level of personnel assigned to the unit, which stood at only 13 before the current process of development in Garda vetting began in 2005.