Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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220. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of teachers that have been due to commence teaching in September 2016 but cannot do so due to changes in vetting requirements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31858/16]

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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221. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the new vetting requirements mean that substitute teachers will have to be vetted at each school prior to taking up position; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31859/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 220 and 221 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 vetting requirements for the Garda vetting of persons involved in working with children and vulnerable persons, including those working in schools.

Prior to the Act's commencement,  my Department published (in April 2015) 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.  These included specific steps to be taken both by school authorities and registered teachers as to help ensure that teachers would be readily employable in substitute teaching positions arising in schools post commencement of the statutory requirements.

My Department also brought forward legislation which amended the Teaching Council Act to provide, inter alia, for a statutory basis for the Teaching Council's role in the statutory vetting of registered teachers and to enable the Teaching Council to put in place a streamlined electronic mechanism for school employers to meet the requirements of the Vetting Act in respect of registered teachers.  This mechanism ensures that once a vetting disclosure is obtained by the Teaching Council in respect of a registered teacher, that disclosure can, with the consent of the teacher concerned, be made available electronically to any school employer that requires it for the purposes of the Vetting Act, including where required in respect of substitute teaching positions.

When the vetting requirements were commenced in April of this year, my Department published a further circular which set out the statutory vetting requirements applicable to schools along with the practical arrangements in place to support the vetting procedures.  This circular (0031/2016) contains information about the limited exemptions to the requirement under Section 12(1) of the Vetting Act to obtain a vetting disclosure from the National Vetting Bureau prior to commencing an employment, including information about the exemptions that apply in certain circumstances to substitute teaching positions.

In relation to the information requested by the Deputy in relation to teachers whose teaching positions have not commenced pending vetting, the position is that the filling of vacancies for teaching positions is carried out at individual school level.  Accordingly, information in relation to the number at any given time of unfilled vacancies in schools and the reasons for same is not available within my Department.