Catherine Murphy
Question:206. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons, by county, currently waiting for their Garda vetting application to be processed. [8572/24]
View answerThursday, 22 February 2024
Questions (206)
Written answers
The Deputy will be aware that the primary purpose of the employment vetting carried out by the National Vetting Bureau is to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults. I am sure the Deputy will appreciate the importance of this task and the need for it to be carried out thoroughly and correctly.
I am advised by An Garda Síochána that vetting is carried out by An Garda Síochána in accordance with the provisions of the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012 - 2016. As Minister, I have no role in such matters.
To be of assistance I have contacted the Garda authorities but have been advised that it is not possible to provide statistical information in respect of the number of vetting applications waiting to be processed by county, as such information would require a manual trawl of individual records and would involve a disproportionate use of resources.
For the Deputy's information, in 2023, the number of vetting applications processed by the Garda National Vetting Bureau (GNVB) was 588,690.
The current average turnaround time for processing vetting applications is 4 working days for 85% of applications.
I can confirm that the total number of applications currently with GNVB for processing is 13,266, as of 20 February, the latest date for when figures are available.