Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his views on correspondence (details supplied) from the Football Association of Ireland regarding the National Vetting Bill. [46840/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I have written to the FAI on a number of occasions responding to these queries. I have pointed out to the FAI in my previous correspondence that the obligation to obtain vetting disclosures for sports coaches or trainers working with children is a requirement of the Children First Guidelines and the Irish Sports Council Code of Ethics. This Code of Ethics has been in place since the year 2000. The National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Bill 2012 simply confirms this vetting requirement in legislation.

If FAI clubs are not in compliance with these codes then they need to submit any outstanding vetting applications regarding the relevant coaches and trainers to remedy the situation. Once this is done the FAI will have substantially met its obligations under the forthcoming legislation. There is no requirement in the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Bill that all volunteers or members in a club needing to be vetted. There is in fact a specific provision in the Bill providing that persons providing assistance with sports or community organisations on an occasional basis do not require vetting. This is to ensure that soccer parents or club members or volunteers who are providing assistance at an occasional club event do not require vetting.

There is also no vetting requirement for persons coaching adult teams – even if some players on an adult team are under 18. The liability for submitting vetting applications will rest primarily with the clubs’ Boards of Management. The FAI will, however, have an obligation to submit vetting applications regarding coaches employed directly by the FAI for youth coaching. Currently it takes between 4 to 8 weeks for each vetting application to be processed. I expect that the Bill will be enacted before the end of 2012 and I intend to commence the main provisions of the Bill in March 2013.