2026-03-18

I thank the Minister of State for being here. He is well aware of the problems that have existed for a number of years. Somebody could work in a childcare facility and, at the same time, could be training juvenile athletes as well as being involved in a stage school involving young people. For each of those roles, that person would require Garda vetting. In terms of bus drivers and certain types of employment, it is in a sense almost more bizarre. At the moment, contracted drivers of school buses under the Bus Éireann scheme have to be vetted, and rightly so. For a private bus where a person is driving the same group of young people, however, there is not a requirement for Garda vetting. Someone working for one contractor with a contract with Bus Éireann to drive a school bus who then changes to drive another school bus with a different contractor is required to get Garda vetting yet again. We are all very aware of the problems with the system. This has been an ongoing issue for quite a period. A welcome decision was made on 26 April 2021 to set up a review group. It was announced by the then Minister for Justice, Deputy Helen McEntee. She said the purpose of the review was to provide a more robust, efficient and effective system and that she anticipated the work of the group would take approximately six months. That was in April 2021. All of the relevant Departments and agencies were appointed. The Departments of justice, health, children, the Taoiseach and public expenditure, An Garda Síochána, the HSE, the Public Appointments Service and Tusla were all involved. Even though its task was related o efficiency, it did not report within six months and, following the initial delay, it was due to report in quarter 2 of 2022. As the Minister of State knows, I was a Senator in the term of the previous Oireachtas. I raised a Commencement matter on this issue on 7 February 2024 when I was told by the then Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Deputy Browne, that the review was very quickly coming to a conclusion and its report would provide recommendations for implementation. That was on 7 February 2024. We did not see much progress then and the general election happened. On 18 June 2025, in a parliamentary question to the Minister for justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, I was told that the work was nearing completion at that stage. On 17 September - I waited a few months - I was then told in a response to a parliamentary question by the Minister for justice that the group had not agreed a formal report but had provided an update, which had been submitted to the Minister, and that the Department would now be working on the recommendations arising from that. I thought we would hear some progress. I submitted another parliamentary question and got a response on 4 February this year in which I was told that the Department was now looking at some of the issues from the Garda vetting review group, there would be some key changes and legislation would need to be amended. It also stated that we would need to have an updated technology system. A working group that was charged with delivering a more efficient and effective system was not particularly effective or efficient in its own operation. The Minister of State might tell us who chairs or chaired that review group? Why is it taking so long to report? Will the Government publish the update or recommendations or whatever is on the Minister's desk? When will the public actually see real change to resolve a lot of the issues with which the Minister of State, I and everyone in these House is very familiar?

I thank the Deputy for outlining the litany of issues he has endured. I hope this reply will be of benefit to him. The primary purpose of vetting carried out by the Garda National Vetting Bureau is to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults. Clearly, this requires a robust vetting process that reassures the public and, in particular, parents that appropriate checks are conducted on people taking up positions of trust. I am aware that concerns have been raised regarding certain aspects of the Garda vetting process, particularly by sporting and voluntary organisations and sectors. The Government has met directly with the Federation of Irish Sport on this matter and my Department has also received correspondence from a range of voluntary organisations. I am also aware that concerns have been raised on the approach of minimising vetting disclosures of an individual. For example, where a teacher is vetted, the Teaching Council permits him or her to move from one school to another without re-vetting. All that is required is that registered teachers re-vet every three years on a scheduled basis. Consequently, if this system of portability is safe for engagement with our school children, I believe a version of portability must also be safe for broader application. In this regard, I am conscious that aspects of the current vetting system result in a highly segmented process. I believe that the vetting system should be updated to ensure that the burden of seeking vetting disclosures, particularly on volunteers and organisations working in their communities, is minimised to the greatest extent possible, while maintaining the high standards that are necessary. Further to the work carried out by the Garda vetting review group, steps are now being taken to implement a number of key changes to the process that will ensure it remains robust and effective, while improving the service to customers. In practice, and subject to a general requirement that vetting be renewed every three years, it is envisaged that this will mean that when a person is vetted for the work he or she will be or is likely to be involved in as part of his or her employment or volunteering within identified risk categories, the person should not be required to repeat the process if he or she was to move to another role within the same risk category. These changes will require amending legislation and updated technical systems to support the revised approach. This work will make the process more efficient for volunteers and organisations without compromising the essential safeguards that protect those in our care. The Department is engaging with An Garda Síochána on the best way to deliver these changes, while maintaining the high vetting standards that are essential to the protection of children and vulnerable adults.

I thank the Minister of State very much. With all due respect, I do not think we needed a review group to operate for five years to tell us that. It is something I think we all knew. We needed a more efficient system. The Federation of Irish Sport, charities and community organisations have been saying for a long time that there should be a very simple vetting process. Anybody who is working with children or vulnerable adults should have to go through one vetting process based on the assessments of risk. They should just have to go through one vetting process based on the assessment of risk. It has taken us five years to establish something that we already know. The key question here in terms of what is being proposed is when we will see the introduction of the general requirement on vetting being renewed every three years. If it does require amending legislation, when will that be introduced in the House? In other words, when we are talking to people, including those in the Federation of Irish Sport - I am glad the Department is engaging with that organisation - we can say that somebody who is involved in a sporting organisation, who may be a childcare worker, primary schoolteacher or whatever else, would have one simple vetting mechanism. Is there going to be a tender for the technical system that is to be introduced? What is envisaged? Where is the tech oversight in the delivery of that? To provide confidence to all of the organisations that have been waiting for so long, we need to know very clearly when the legislation will be introduced and that the public will know that, from the first of a certain month or on a specific date, this simple process will be in place. I do not have confidence in a system that was meant to deliver a more efficient vetting system when it has taken five years for it to come up with what is a repetition of most of the things we have been hearing for the past half decade.

The current system used by An Garda Síochána is delivered in a standard format to all organisations seeking vetting. This approach aligns with good international practice. I am informed by the Garda authorities that the Garda National Vetting Bureau's target turnaround time for vetting applications submitted by organisations utilising the e-vetting system is five to ten working days for over 85% of the vetting applications received. The Garda National Vetting Bureau received over 633,500 applications for vetting disclosures last year, 2025. I am also informed that the current processing time for 85% of vetting applications is eight to nine working days. There are a number of factors outside of An Garda Síochána's control that can impact on the timeline for individual applications. These include, for example, where a person has lived overseas. These applications can take additional time. Vetting is carried out by An Garda Síochána in accordance with the provisions of the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts of 2012 to 2016. Ministers have no direct role in vetting. Further to the work being carried out by the Garda vetting review group, steps are now being taken to implement a number of the key changes in the process that will ensure it remains robust and effective while improving the service to customers. We must be sure that any changes to the vetting system do not negatively impact on the objective of safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. Expediency for expediency's sake cannot be the driving motivation - I know that is not Deputy Byrne's motivation - behind any of the changes that we make. We must always keep safeguarding at the heart of the system. I will impress upon the Minister and the officials in the Department of justice the Deputy's annoyance at the delay in bringing this process to a successful end point in its journey.