Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 72: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform the reason a response has not issued to representations sent to his office in early October on behalf of an organisation (details supplied) whereby persons offered work placements on community employment schemes are not permitted by FÁS to take up their placements until Garda vetting has been completed which can take up to ten months [46854/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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A response has issued to the Deputy's representation on behalf of the organisation to which he refers.

The Garda Central Vetting Unit (GCVU) provides employment vetting for a large number of organisations in Ireland registered with the Garda 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. FÁS is among the organisations registered with the Garda for vetting purposes and uses the services of the vetting unit in accordance with its requirements for placements in relevant positions.

The processing time for vetting applications fluctuates in line with periods of increased demand. Furthermore, 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. Registered organisations have been advised to take account of this in their recruitment and selection process. However, the Garda 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 current average processing time for vetting applications received at the GCVU is approximately 12 weeks.