John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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427. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will provide an update on the development of an e-vetting system for Garda vetting applications; if he will provide information on the increase in staff at the Garda Vetting Unit; and if further redeployment of staff is planned. [39352/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Garda authorities that an E-Vetting solution for the Garda Central Vetting Unit (GCVU) is being developed and this will facilitate the processing of applications in an e-format, thus significantly streamlining the current time-consuming process of managing all applications in a manual format. The project is being pursued as a priority and the initial phase of testing is due to take place in the fourth quarter of 2013.

It is, of course, very important that the GCVU has the resources required to perform its roles effectively and I have given this matter particular attention. In that regard I have been actively engaged with my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. Currently, there are approximately 140 whole-time equivalent staff assigned to the GCVU. Furthermore, I have also recently received sanction for the redeployment of 40 additional staff to the Unit. This will bring the total number of staff in that service to a level which, when compared to the average staff allocation of 78 at the Unit during the past two and a half years, represents an increase of over 100%.