Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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160. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the action she will take to ensure schools and teachers are made fully aware of the Garda vetting procedures in place for teachers taking up new employment; the measures she will put in place to avoid a repeat of the situation in 2016 whereby many teachers were without the required Garda vetting at the start of the academic year and therefore unable to teach, causing undue stress for the teachers in question and putting increased pressure on the resources of the schools involved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25773/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am informed that the Department of Education and Skills issued a Circular 31/2016 on May 2016 to all education sectors outlining their vetting obligations. This circular is available at the website of the Department of Education and Skills www.education.ie.

As the Deputy will be aware, vetting for teachers is governed by the provisions of the National Vetting Bureau (Children & Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012. The Teaching Council is registered with the National Vetting Bureau of An Garda Síochána in respect of providing vetting services for teachers. The implementation of eVetting solution earlier this year has greatly enhanced the vetting process. The Teaching Council is operational on the eVetting system and this allows an applicant and the Teaching Council to monitor the progress of a vetting application.

The current average processing time for vetting applications is less than four weeks. The primary purpose of the Garda employment vetting service is to seek to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults. Accordingly, the vetting process demands rigorous procedures to safeguard its integrity and to maintain the highest level of confidence by the public and organisations availing of the service. Any vetting process will take a certain minimum amount of time to complete and, taking into account the importance of measures to protect children and vulnerable adults while providing an effective and efficient service, the current average processing period is not unreasonable.

It can arise that in respect of some individual applications additional enquiries may be necessary, sometimes from the applicant themselves or from authorities located abroad and, as you will appreciate, the Garda Authorities have no control over such delays as may arise in these circumstances. This can result in processing times in excess of the average.