John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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219. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the schools in Dublin mid-west currently waiting for a special needs assistant to fill a vacant post due to the delays in the Garda vetting process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30228/16]

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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220. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the schools in Dublin mid-west that are currently waiting for a teacher to fill a vacant post due to the delays in the Garda vetting process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30229/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 219 and 220 together.

In April of this year, the Minister for Justice and Equality commenced the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012 to 2016 (the Vetting Act) which put in place statutory requirements for the Garda vetting of persons involved in working with children and vulnerable adults, including those working in schools.

Since the Vetting Act was commenced, school authorities have been statutorily obliged, other than in certain limited circumstances, to obtain a vetting disclosure from the National Vetting Bureau before commencing the employment of staff such as teachers and special needs assistants.

When these vetting requirements were commenced, my Department published Circular 0031/2016 which set out the statutory requirements along with the practical arrangements in place to support the vetting procedures. A Frequently Asked Questions document was also published by my Department to assist schools with queries in respect of the circular. My Department had previously (in April 2015) published a circular which outlined the advance preparations and actions to be taken by all school authorities and registered teachers so as to facilitate, as far as possible, a smooth transition to the statutory vetting requirements once they became operational.

In relation to the information requested by the Deputy in respect of unfilled vacancies in schools in the Dublin mid-west area, the position is that the filling of vacancies for teaching and non-teaching positions is carried out at individual school level. Accordingly, information in relation to the number of unfilled vacancies in particular schools and the reasons for same at any given time is not available within my Department.