Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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Question 36: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if his attention has been drawn to the fact that 225 CAO courses require Garda vetting for applicants; if his further attention has been drawn to the fact that this means persons who committed very minor offences unrelated to education are prevented from applying to these courses in the absence of spent convictions legislation; the date on which he will introduce spent convictions legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37912/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Certain courses offered by the Higher Education Institutions through the Central Applications Office (CAO) require students to undertake placements that bring them into contact with children or vulnerable adults. Before a student can undertake such a placement, he or she must be vetted by the Garda Central Vetting Unit. This is a standard requirement that applies to all employment involving children and vulnerable adults and one that I will be putting on a statutory footing in the Vetting Bill. Details of the courses that are subject to vetting and disclosure requirements are set out on the CAO website www.cao.ie.

As the Deputy will be aware, section 258 of the Children Act 2001 provides for the non-disclosure of convictions acquired by persons while under the age of 18, subject to certain conditions, including that the person has not been convicted of another offence during the 3 years following his or her conviction. This non-disclosure provision applies to all offences other than those that fall to be tried by the Central Criminal Court (e.g. murder).

My Department is currently completing the drafting of the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill which I expect to publish in the New Year. The Bill will provide for the non-disclosure of certain convictions after a number of years has elapsed, where a person is seeking employment. However, anyone wishing to work with children or vulnerable adults will still be required to disclose all prior convictions, and the Gardaí will be permitted to disclose all convictions in these cases. It will be for an employer to decide if those convictions are such as to call into question the suitability of the person to work with children or vulnerable adults.

Finally, the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill is intended to assist the reintegration of offenders by smoothing their path to employment. I would expect that responsible employers, including those providing placements to students on the courses referred to by the Deputy, would only take into account those convictions that are relevant to the employment.