Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 94: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he is satisfied with the criminality guidelines applied in the matter of vetting by the Private Security Authority in deciding whether to grant licences under the appropriate legislation with particular reference to qualification criteria; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8502/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Private Security Authority (PSA), established under the Private Security Services Act 2004, is the regulatory body with responsibility for regulating and licensing the private security industry. The Authority is an independent body under the aegis of my Department. My Department is therefore not involved in the day to day running of the Authority and the processing of licence applications is a matter solely for the Authority.

As the Deputy will appreciate, the vetting of applicants is an integral part of the licensing process. In the case of contractor licensing, all directors of a company, the partners in a partnership, all sole traders and any shareholder in a company with a shareholding of 20% or more are vetted, on the Authority's behalf, by An Garda Síochána. All applicants for individual licences also go through the vetting process.

With regard to the Authority's criminality guidelines, as referred to by the Deputy, I am informed by the Authority that when deciding whether to grant a licence to a person with a relevant conviction, it will take the following into account: nature and seriousness of the offence(s) involved; the length of time since completion of sentence; overall interests of the public good; relationship of the crime to the purpose of requiring a licence; age of person before and after offence; conduct of person before and after the offence; and evidence of rehabilitation.

I am further informed by the Authority that although written guidelines are used to assist them in making a decision, they are in no way bound by these guidelines and may decide, where it deems the conviction(s) renders an applicant unsuitable to hold a licence, to refuse an application.