Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 January 2014
159. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for Justice and Equality when the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 will be commenced; if its operation will apply to existing employees dealing with children; the procedures that will be in place for vetting existing employees and those returning from long leave-of-absence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4722/14]
View answerElements of the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 relating to the disclosure of convictions are under review at present having regard to a recent judgment of the UK Court of Appeal in (On the Application of) T and others v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester [2013]. The UK Court considered the circumstances in which it is appropriate to disclose convictions for old, minor offences with particular regard to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Having considered the judgement in that case, I intend bringing proposals before the Oireachtas to provide that certain old minor convictions will not be disclosed under the provisions of the 2012 Act. Given the close relationship between this Act and the Spent Convictions Bill, which is before the Oireachtas at the moment, any changes to the Vetting Act will have to be reflected in the Spent Convictions Bill. The amendment of the Vetting Act will also be done via the Spent Convictions Bill.
I expect to be in a position to commence the provisions of the 2012 Act in 2014. In the meantime, the vetting of persons working with children and vulnerable persons continues to be done on a non-statutory basis. Section 21 (Retrospective Vetting) of the Act provides that the Minister may make regulations to prescribe periods of time within which certain classes of existing employees who have not already been vetted will have to be vetted.
Where persons return from long term leave-of-absence, the employer will have to consider whether or not they have a vetting disclosure and whether or not any vetting disclosure is sufficiently up to date, before re-employing the person. Where persons already vetted have been absent for a short period such as a few weeks, there is no re-vetting requirement other than that contained in section 20 (Re-vetting) of the 2012 Act. That section provides that the Minister may make regulations to prescribe intervals of time within which certain classes of employee will have to be re-vetted.
