Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if his attention has been drawn to any problems regarding the personal data request form issued by the Garda Central Vetting Office (details supplied). [40840/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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An individual may apply to the Garda Síochána for a disclosure under Section 4 of the Data Protection Act 1988 (as amended) of a copy of the personal data which is maintained by An Garda Síochána. Such a disclosure is made to the individual to whom the data relates. Data Protection disclosures are issued from the Garda Central Vetting Unit (GCVU) to individuals for their own personal use. These disclosures cannot be construed as Garda Vetting, Security Clearance, Character Check or Character Reference and this is clearly stated on each such disclosure issued from that office.

The electronic signature of the Superintendent based at the GCVU, who is in charge of the Garda Síochána’s Data Protection Processing Unit, is utilised as the issuing authority on Data Protection disclosures issued from that office. The use of electronic signatures on documents such as Data Protection disclosures is legally provided for within the provisions of Part 2 of the Electronic Commerce Act 2000.

In view of the number of personal data disclosures, vetting and other documents which are issued by the GCVU, it would be wholly impractical to expect that each such document must be signed personally by the Garda Superintendent in charge.

If the Deputy wishes to provide specific information in relation to the application in question, including the name of the person, I will have it examined further.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if there is a ten to twelve week delay in Garda Vetting for participants in the TÚS Programme in view of the fact that there were previous assurances that there was a two week turnover for applicants for garda vetting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40910/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy may wish to note that in order to observe equity and fairness in respect of all applicants for Garda vetting, the standard procedure is that all applications are processed in chronological order from their date of receipt. Accordingly, there is no specific protocol in place for the management of vetting applications pertaining to TÚS Programme participants. Any vetting process will take a certain minimum period of time to complete. Seasonal fluctuations and the necessity to seek additional information on particular applications can, however, result in this processing time being exceeded on occasion. The current processing time for vetting applications is 8 weeks. I am acutely aware of the need to keep processing times to a minimum. An improvement in these processing times is expected in the near future.