Justice Committee to discuss National Vetting Bill with Minister

Minister for Justice and Equality Alan Shatter TD will attend the meeting of the Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality tomorrow, 17th October, 2012 for the Committee stage of the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Bill 2012.

The Bill will provide a statutory basis for the existing procedures whereby the Garda criminal records database is used to vet persons applying for employment working with children or vulnerable adults. The Bill will also create offences and penalties for persons who fail to comply with its provisions.

Committee Chairman David Stanton, TD, said: “Our Committee has made an important contribution to the progress of this Bill through the legislative process. When the Heads of the Bill were first published last year, we invited submissions from, and met with, groups and organisations dealing with the provision of various services to children and vulnerable adults to get their views on the legislation before it was published. Their observations were included in a report forwarded to the Minister. Tomorrow, the Minister will come before the Committee where the Bill as published will be examined in detail. At this stage, the Bill will receive detailed consideration and will give members the opportunity to propose and discuss any amendments to this important piece of legislation.”

This meeting will start in Committee Room 2, Leinster House at 2pm on Wednesday 17th October.

Committee proceedings can be followed live at:
http://www.oireachtas.ie/ViewDoc.asp?fn=/documents/livewebcast/Web-Live.htm&CatID=83&m=o

For further information please contact:

Ciaran Brennan,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2

P: +3531 618 3903
M: 086-0496518
F: +3531 618 4551

Committee Membership

Deputies:

Niall Collins, Michael Creed, Alan Farrell, Anne Ferris [Vice-Chairman], Seán Kenny, Finian McGrath, Jonathan O’Brien, John Paul Phelan and David Stanton (Chairman).

Senators:

Ivana Bacik, Paul Bradford, Martin Conway, Rónán Mullen, Denis O’Donovan and Katherine Zappone.