Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 481: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if his attention has been drawn to the delay in processing Garda clearance certificates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4889/12]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 482: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will review the requirement for a person to have a Garda clearance certificate when they change employment but remain in the same area of work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4890/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 481 and 482 together.

Since I became Minister I have taken a number of measures to ensure that the time it takes for the processing of vetting applications improves significantly and I remain very conscious of the need to keep the time required to obtain a vetting to the minimum possible.

The average processing time at the Garda Central Vetting Unit (GCVU) now is 2 weeks approximately. This is a substantial improvement on this time last year when processing took 11 weeks. I am informed by the Garda authorities that there are approximately 8,000 vetting applications in the course of being processed at present.

Nevertheless, seasonal fluctuations will still impact on the processing time. Furthermore, the necessity to seek additional information on particular applications may result in the processing time exceeding the present average of 2 weeks. Registered organisations have been advised to take account of this in their recruitment and selection process.

Garda vetting certificates are issued to specified registered organisations in respect of a particular post or employment in response to a written request and with the permission of the person who is the subject of that request. Decisions on the suitability for the recruitment/engagement of the person concerned rest at all times with the recruiting organisation.

The Garda Vetting certificate is non-transferable. It is important to emphasise that it is a disclosure to the requesting, registered organisation of the position at the time when it is issued. Furthermore, non-transferability protects against the risk of fraud or forgery of such certificates and is a guarantee of the integrity of the vetting system.