Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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165. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if Garda vetting clearance for a person (details supplied) can be transferable between schools similar to the arrangement in place for teachers and substitute teachers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12146/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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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 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 in April 2016, 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.

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.

The Vetting Act provides that a relevant organisation must, other than in certain limited circumstances, obtain a vetting disclosure from the National Vetting Bureau prior to commencing the employment of an employee to undertake relevant work with children or vulnerable adults. The Vetting Act allows for some limited exemptions to this requirement, including certain exemptions that are applicable in the case of recurring substitute employments such as a recurring substitute SNA employment. The Act’s exemptions in respect of substitute employments are set out in section 5.3 of my Department’s circular.

Under the new statutory vetting procedures, the vetting of SNAs 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 SNAs and other non-teaching staff employed by schools. In the case of ETB schools the relevant ETB is the relevant organisation for such vetting.