Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 10: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the steps he will take about the delays experienced by those seeking Garda vetting which is resulting in the loss of job opportunities in some instances. [19653/10]

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 positions where they would have substantial, unsupervised access to children and/or vulnerable adults.

The GCVU has managed a substantial increase over recent years in the numbers of vetting applications received by it. In 2007 there was 187,864 applicants. This rose to 218,404 in 2008 and 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, for example, when the person in question has lived and worked abroad. There will always be a reasonably significant time period required to process a vetting application. I do not accept that the period taken to complete work on a vetting application amounts to a chronic delay. 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 periods of lower demand to up to 12 weeks at times when demand is particularly high.

The allocation of Garda resources, including personnel, is a matter for the Garda Commissioner. There is currently a total of 83 personnel assigned to the vetting unit, including six Gardaí and 77 Garda civilian personnel. Five additional personnel are being recruited on a temporary basis for 3 months, these personnel will commence work during June. 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.