The Deputy will appreciate that the primary purpose of the Garda National Vetting Bureau is to seek to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults and it is carried out by An Garda Síochána primarily in accordance with the provisions of the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012-2016.
Vetting checks are conducted by the Garda National Vetting Bureau for each new vetting application received to ensure that the most recent data available is taken into account. This is because once there has been any significant lapse of time between one employment and another, the original Vetting Disclosure must be reviewed to take account of any changes in information, such as more recent criminal convictions. Furthermore, the Data Protection Acts require that any sensitive personal data which employers use in regard to their employees must be current, accurate and up-to-date. Importantly, the general non-transferability and contemporaneous nature of the current process also helps to protect against the risk of fraud or forgery in the process.
I am pleased to inform that Deputy that at present, 80% of overall vetting applications are being processed by the National Vetting Bureau in five working days. This efficiency has been achieved by the deployment of the e-Vetting system which facilitates the on-line processing of applications for vetting from registered organisations. The e-Vetting system is available to all registered organisations and the Garda Authorities are ready to assist those organisations who are not yet using the e-Vetting system to do so. In circumstances where there is such a sustained reduction in processing times, the issue of vetting “transferability” is very largely obviated.
There are certain limited circumstances where organisations can share a single vetting disclosure where this is agreed to by the vetting applicant. Section 12(3)(A) of the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 (as amended) provides that two or more relevant organisations can enter into a joint written agreement in relation to the employment, contracting, permitting or placement of an person to undertake relevant work or activities thereby providing for only one of the organisations being required to conduct vetting in respect of that person.
I have requested the detailed information on personnel and expenditure from the Garda Authorities and I will communicate it to the Deputy when the information is to hand.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 42A:
I refer further to Parliamentary Question No. 94 of 8 February 2017 in relation to my plans to streamline Garda vetting procedures and to allow for simplified procedures for persons transferring between different types of work that require Garda vetting yet do not allow for their Garda vetting approval to transfer between different jobs or responsibilities; the number of Gardaí and public servants involved in Garda vetting; and the amount spent on vetting in the past year for which figures are available.
As you will recall in my reply to you, I stated that I had sought further information as regards the National Vetting Bureau's staffing levels and expenditure.
I am informed by the Garda authorities that the annual cost of running the Vetting Unit is €6.6m which includes all salary costs. It should be noted, however, that the above figure does not include items of expenditure that are paid centrally by the Garda organisation and which are not reapportioned against an individual Garda District, for example software licences, computer equipment maintenance contracts and so on.
With regards to the number of Gardaí and public servants involved in vetting, as of 31 December 2016, the latest date for which figures are readily available, the National Vetting Bureau had a staffing complement of 159, comprising of 154 civilian staff, 4 Garda Sergeants and a Superintendent.
I trust that this has clarified matters for you.
