Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 369: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will explain the reason there are delays to secure Garda clearance; if there are actions underway to reduce the waiting times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33400/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Garda Central Vetting Unit (GCVU) provides employment vetting for over 19,000 organisations in Ireland who are registered with the Gardaí for this purpose and which employ/engage 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.

The current average processing time at the GCVU is 3 weeks approximately. This, in my view, is well within acceptable limits. Seasonal fluctuations and the necessity to seek additional information on particular applications can, however, result in this processing time being exceeded on occasion. Registered organisations have been advised to take account of these processing times, and the possible need for additional information to be provided in some cases, in their recruitment and selection processes.

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.