Pádraig MacLochlainn
Question:334. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the current status of the spent convictions Bill; and when it will be enacted. [46076/14]
View answerTuesday, 2 December 2014
Questions (334, 335)
Pádraig MacLochlainn
Question:335. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if a person (details supplied) in County Mayo who has previous convictions dating from the 1970s, will qualify under the spent convictions legislation. [46077/14]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 334 and 335 together.
The Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill has passed Committee Stage in the Dáil, having passed all stages in the Seanad. However, before the Bill could be taken at Report Stage, a 2013 UK Court of Appeal judgment necessitated a review of the disclosure provisions in both the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 and the Spent Convictions Bill. That review has been completed and amendments to the Vetting Act and consequential amendments to the Spent Convictions Bill are currently being drafted. The Bill will be enacted at the earliest opportunity. Pending the amendment of the Bill, an Administrative Filter for Garda Vetting Disclosures has been introduced, which provides that certain minor offences that are over 7 years old are no longer disclosed.
The Deputy has not supplied any details of the convictions that may be at issue and in the absence of such information I am not in a position to comment.