Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence Alan Shatter T.D. responds to
today's Press Release from the Teacher's Union of Ireland to the National
Vetting Bill (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012.
The Minister stated, "Teachers taking up new posts in new schools have been
vetted for many years, under the Children First Guidelines. The National
Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 simply confirms
this existing policy. Teachers already in employment in schools who have
already been vetted will not require vetting in respect of that existing
employment. This is provided for in section 12 (5) of the Act.
However, although there are about 40,000 teachers who have been vetted,
there are also approximately 42,000 teachers who were employed by schools
before the Children First Guidelines were implemented, and these 42,000
teachers have never been vetted. These teachers will require vetting
retrospectively, in accordance with the provisions of section 21 of the
Act. This section allows the Minister to prescribe a period of time within
which organisations employing persons not previously vetted must submit an
application for a vetting disclosure in respect of those persons. Pending
the completion of this vetting process the persons will continue to be
employed.
The suggestion by the Teaching Union that vetting should be done only by
the Teaching Council is unworkable for a number of reasons. Firstly, the
Act requires that the prospective employer must obtain a copy of a vetting
disclosure. This is a continuation of the existing practice in the teaching
sector and has been a core part of the Children First Principles and
national child protection principles. The Education Acts already provide
that it is the School Board of Management that is the employer and as such
the Board of Management is also responsible for the recruitment of
teachers. The effect of the proposal made by the Teaching Union of Ireland
would be that Boards of Management in schools would not be able to obtain
details of criminal convictions of persons applying to work as teachers in
their school. This would totally undermine the child protection objective
of the legislation. Moreover, the Teaching Union of Ireland proposal would
result in the 42,000 unvetted teachers never being vetted by the schools
that employ them.
The Minister is in consultation with his colleagues to determine the
appropriate dates for commencement of the various provisions in the Act"