Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 8 Apr 2003

Vol. 564 No. 5

Written Answers - Garda Operations.

Joe Costello

Question:

388 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of search warrants sought in each of the past five years from peace commissioners; the number issued in each year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9599/03]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell)

The information requested by the Deputy is not available in the detail sought, and I regret that it would not be possible to obtain it without the use of a disproportionate amount of Garda time and resources.

Joe Costello

Question:

389 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason voluntary and community groups are not receiving Garda clearance for child care workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9600/03]

Olivia Mitchell

Question:

395 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when the review committee on the vetting of child care staff is expected to report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9630/03]

Olivia Mitchell

Question:

405 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the difficulties being experienced by the private and voluntary sector child care providers in availing of Garda vetting facilities for staff. [9904/03]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell)

I propose to take Question Nos. 389, 395 and 405 together.

As the Deputies are aware, in 1998 my predecessor requested the Garda Commissioner to undertake a comprehensive review of Garda clearance arrangements in the child care area generally.

Arising from this review it was decided that a central vetting unit would be set up to deal with the, then known, demand for clearances. In July 2001 sanction was received for the recruitment of additional staff for the new unit to be based in Garda headquarters and following recruitment and training of the new staff, the unit commenced operations on 2 January 2002.

The unit currently processes clearance requests in respect of prospective employees entering full time employment in the health care area who have substantial unsupervised access to children or vulnerable persons. In its first year of operation, the unit dealt with about 70,000 vetting and data protection requests. The time taken to process vetting requests for Irish workers was reduced to about a three week period.

When the central vetting unit became fully operational and backlogs were cleared, it was envisaged that a phased extension of the clearance arrangements to other groups would take place. To this end a working group has been established by the Garda Commissioner to examine the issue, taking account of all aspects of the vetting of persons coming in contact with children and vulnerable persons – be they full-time, part-time, voluntary or community workers, or students on placements. To assist the group in its deliberations, the Department of Education and Science and the Department of Health and Children have been requested to provide information on the potential number of additional persons who may need to be cleared or vetted.

The work of the working group is ongoing at present and I will provide the Deputies with further information when I have had an opportunity to consider the commissioner's report in the matter.