Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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407. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to outline his plans to streamline the system for vetting primary school special needs assistants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1088/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Since the introduction in 2006 of the non-statutory Garda vetting arrangements the Teaching Council has played a central role in the vetting of registered teachers both for the purposes of registration with the Council and as a conduit for school employers for the purposes of the vetting of registered teachers for employment.

Under the non-statutory vetting arrangements, vetting of non-teaching staff (such as Special Needs Assistants (SNAs)) and others was conducted via the relevant diocesan office or school management body which acted as the conduit for schools for this purpose. In the case of ETB schools, vetting of such persons was conducted via the relevant ETB.

In April 2016, 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 persons.

The Vetting Act applies not just to schools but to any relevant organisation that employs, contracts, permits or places a person in relevant work with children or vulnerable persons.  The Vetting Act provides that vetting is conducted by the National Vetting Bureau on foot of an application by a relevant organisation that is registered with it.  The vetting legislation and the vetting procedures operated by the National Vetting Bureau fall within the remit of the Minister for Justice and Equality.

When the vetting requirements were commenced last April, my Department issued circular 0031/2016 which set out the statutory vetting requirements applicable to schools 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.

At the same time, I commenced the vetting related provisions of the Teaching Council (Amendment) Act, 2015 which, inter alia, enabled the Teaching Council to put in place a streamlined mechanism for school employers to meet the statutory vetting requirements in respect of registered teachers.  The existence of the Teaching Council, as a statutory body with a statutory role in the registration of registered teachers, has enabled my Department to bring forward the relevant legislative provisions under the Teaching Council Amendment Act 2015 which have  allowed for such a streamlined mechanism to be put in place in the case of registered teachers.  However, it is not possible for my Department to put in place similar legislative arrangements in respect of non-teaching staff.

Under the new statutory vetting procedures, the vetting of Ss and other non-teaching staff continues to be conducted via the relevant diocesan office or school management body as the relevant conduit organisation for the vetting of Ss and other non-teaching staff employed by schools. In the case of ETB schools the relevant ETB is the relevant organisation for such vetting. My Department understands that the majority of these bodies are now using the National Vetting Bureau's electronic vetting facility.