To ask the Minister of Justice, to address the Seanad how she plans to address the unworkable nature of the new Garda Vetting System which has hindered school recruitment processes and voluntary organisations alike across Ireland.
Senator Aidan Davitt
The Tánaiste wishes to thank the Senator for raising this matter as it provides an opportunity for her to inform the House that there is currently no particular or undue delay in the Garda employment vetting process.
Rather, the Tánaiste is glad to inform the House that there has been a very significant improvement in the timeframe for processing vetting applications over recent months.
The Garda Authorities, who operate the National Vetting Bureau, inform the Tánaiste that, at present, in the order of 80 percent of vetting applications are processed by the Vetting Bureau within five working days.
The current processing times represent a dramatic improvement in turnaround times, which have fallen from an average of 14 weeks in mid-2013.
This improvement has come about as a result of unprecedented investment by the Government and the Garda Authorities in providing this service, including an increase of over 80 percent in staffing levels in the past couple of years and the roll out earlier this year of an e-vetting system.
In April this year the Tánaiste commenced the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012-2016 and in tandem with that An Garda Síochána launched the e-vetting system.
E-vetting facilitates the on-line processing of applications and this has significantly streamlined the process and contributed to a sustained reduction in processing times for applications.
A key feature of the e-vetting system is that the individual applicant can track the progress of their own vetting application on-line and can, therefore, see when their application has been processed and returned to the relevant registered organisation.
The Tánaiste is informed that at present 85 percent of organisations registered for vetting are operating the e-vetting system. The Garda Authorities are working to encourage all other organisations to do so.
For vetting applications that continue to be submitted in the old paper format, the average turnaround time is around four weeks from the receipt of the application by the Vetting Bureau and this represents a minimum timeframe given the administrative input required.
In some individual cases it can take longer to process an application where, for example, additional enquiries are necessary or where errors have been made in the application.
It is important to note that delays can also occur in other aspects of the application process which are outside of the control of the Garda Authorities, for example, in the submission or return of applications by the registered organisations.
So, in summary, a Chathaoirleach, the overwhelming majority of vetting applications are processed within five working days and that is not at all unreasonable in the circumstances. Delays can arise, mainly in aspects of the process that are outside of the control of the Garda Vetting Bureau.