Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 559: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if there is a protocol in place which allows applications from participants on the Department of Social Protection's TÚS programme to receive Garda vetting in a short period, say three weeks, while other applications for Garda vetting are currently taking 16 weeks, much to the frustration of community child care facilities which are awaiting such clearance for replacement staff. [10817/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Garda authorities that the current average processing time at the Garda Central Vetting Unit (GCVU) is 2 weeks approximately. Seasonal fluctuations and the necessity to seek additional information on particular applications can, however, result in this processing time being exceeded on occasion. There is no protocol in place for fast tracking applications of TÚS participants and there is no necessity for such special arrangements given the short processing times.

I would remind the Deputy that 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. I remain very conscious of the need to keep the time required to obtain a vetting to the minimum possible.

Nonetheless registered organisations have been advised to take account of the possible need for additional information to be provided in some cases in their recruitment and selection process.