David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 302: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform the number of applications for clearance received by the Garda central vetting unit in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and to date in 2011 respectively; the current waiting times for the processing of an application for Garda vetting; the number of persons currently on the waiting list for Garda vetting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2767/11]

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 which are registered with the Gardaí for this purpose in respect of persons working in a full-time, part-time, voluntary or training capacity in positions where they would have substantial, unsupervised access to children and/or vulnerable adults. There has been a substantial increase in the volume of vetting applications received by the GCVU over recent years and the figures requested by the Deputy are set out in the following table.

I am informed by the Garda Authorities that at present, there are approximately 55,000 applications in the course of being processed and the current average processing time for vetting applications received at the GCVU is approximately 11 weeks. The processing time fluctuates in line with periods of increased demand. Furthermore, additional time may be required to process an individual application where clarification is required as to the details provided or where other enquiries are need, 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 Gardaí make every effort to reduce the time to the minimum possible consistent with carrying out the necessary checks.