Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 March 2010
80 Deputy Pat Breen asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will report on the Garda vetting unit; the length of time to process applications; the number of applications which the unit has dealt with in the past three years; if he is satisfied that the unit is adequately resourced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10984/10]
View answerThe Garda Central Vetting Unit (GCVU) provides employment vetting for a large number of organisations in Ireland registered with the Garda for this purpose and which employ persons in a full-time, part-time, voluntary or training capacity to positions where they would have substantial, unsupervised access to children and/or vulnerable adults.
The GCVU has managed a substantial increase over recent years in the numbers of vetting applications it receives — 187,864 in 2007; 218,404 in 2008 and 246,194 in 2009.
The processing time for vetting applications fluctuates during the year due to seasonal demands when the volume of applications received from certain sectors can increase, for training placements for example. Additional time may be required to process an individual vetting application in cases where clarification is required as to the details provided or where other enquiries need to be made, for example, when the person in question has lived and worked abroad. There will always be a reasonably significant time period required to process a vetting application. However, the Garda make every effort to reduce this to the minimum possible consistent with carrying out the necessary checks. I am informed by the Garda Authorities that the average processing time for valid vetting applications received at the GCVU may vary from four to five weeks in quieter periods to eight to ten weeks at times of peak demand.
The allocation of Garda resources, including personnel, is a matter for the Garda Commissioner. There is currently a total of 78 personnel assigned to the vetting unit, including six gardaí and 72 Garda civilian personnel. This represents a very significant increase in the level of personnel assigned to the unit, which stood at only 13 before the current process of development in Garda vetting began in 2005.
