Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 July 2020
63. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education and Skills if support will be provided and or the suggested recourse for schools vetting new non-teaching staff in view of time constraints and the significant administrative burden on schools preparing to reopen; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19335/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe vetting legislation and the vetting procedures operated by the National Vetting Bureau fall within the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality.
The Vetting Act provides that a relevant organisation must, other than in certain limited circumstances, obtain a vetting disclosure from the National Vetting Bureau prior to commencing the employment of an employee to undertake relevant work with children or vulnerable adults.
Section 5.3 of Circular 0031/2016 outlines that the Vetting Act allows for some limited exemptions to the requirement under Section 12(1) of the Act to obtain a vetting disclosure from the National Vetting Bureau prior to commencing an employment, including in certain circumstances in the case of persons such as special needs assistants (SNA’s) undertaking recurring substitute employment in a particular school. The exemptions include-
- where a person was previously employed as a substitute by that same school authority prior to 29 April 2016.
- where a vetting disclosure from the Bureau was received by the school authority in respect of the person’s initial substitute employment. In such a case, there is no requirement for that school authority to obtain a further vetting disclosure from the Bureau in respect of that person prior to employing him or her in subsequent substitute positions.
Schools may also maintain a list of prospective substitute SNA employees and in doing so ensure that, as far as possible, a vetting disclosure is obtained at the point on which the person is being added to that list or as soon as possible thereafter (rather than waiting until when the person is about to commence his or her employment). In this way schools can ensure that the vetting disclosure has been obtained in sufficient time to allow that SNA to commence work in the school at short notice.
Under the statutory vetting procedures, the vetting of SNAs and other non-teaching staff continues to be conducted via the relevant diocesan office or school management body as the relevant conduit organisation for the vetting of SNAs and other non-teaching staff employed by schools. In the case of ETB schools the relevant ETB is the relevant organisation for such vetting.
I understand that the current eVetting system is specifically designed to ensure speedy processing of vetting applications. The eVetting service provides for approx. 3 to 4 working days. This applies to 85% of applications received via the system.
My Department is engaging with the Vetting Bureau to ensure that vetting arrangements for other schools staff will be prioritised and they have confirmed that valid applications can be processed within 2 to 3 working days.
