Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the assurances he will give that schools will not experience long delays when appointing new teachers under the new national vetting legislation; and the provision being pout in place to address the current backlog in vetting teachers. [17572/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The current arrangements for the vetting of teachers have been in place since 2006 and operate on a non-statutory basis. As the Deputy will be aware, my colleague the Minister for Justice and Equality sponsored the recently enacted National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012. The Act is not yet commenced but provides for the putting in place of statutory requirements for vetting of persons involved in working with children and vulnerable adults, including those working in schools.

My Department is involved in ongoing engagement with the Department of Justice and Equality so as to ensure that any implementation issues for the education sector can be taken fully into account by that Department in the context of its commencement of the legislation.