I am informed by the Garda authorities that the Garda central vetting unit, GCVU, comprises one Garda inspector, two Garda sergeants, one staff officer, eight clerical officers and three temporarily assigned clerical officers. I am further informed that the GCVU processes an average of 5,250 individual vetting applications per week.
As part of the Government's decentralisation programme, the GCVU will be decentralised to Thurles, County Tipperary later this year, from where it will commence an expansion of its vetting services to all appropriate sectors and groups. This will involve the allocation of substantial additional resources to the unit.