Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Question 210: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform the reason an organisation (details supplied) cannot get garda vetting in its own right but was told to pursue this through another organisation [41990/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Garda Central Vetting Unit (GCVU) provides employment vetting to 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 employment vetting service provided by the Gardaí has been expanded greatly in recent years as part of a phased programme to roll-out the service to an increasing number of organisations. Within this programme the vetting service has now been extended to over 18,000 organisations. The GCVU has managed a substantial increase over that period in the numbers of vetting applications it receives - 187,864 in 2007; 218,404 in 2008 and 246,194 in 2009.

Given the large number and wide range of client organisations, the registration process is managed through umbrella organisations which provide single points of contact. This ensures more effective co-ordination and quality control in the various sectors and a more efficient use of resources in the vetting process.

As part of the programme of expansion, Garda vetting has been extended to sporting organisations which are recognised by the Irish Sports Council, which is the statutory agency responsible for the promotion, development and co-ordination of sport in Ireland and which works in liaison with the GCVU in managing the roll-out of vetting to the sports sector. I am informed by the Garda authorities that the organisation to which the Deputy refers is not a member of the Irish Sports Council. The Garda authorities have advised the organisation of the need to register with the Irish Sports Council and have communicated to it the necessary information in this regard.