Garda Vetting System in the Republic of Ireland

The Garda Vetting System in the Republic of Ireland is outlined hereunder;

1. Following the events in Soham, UK, in August 2002, where two children were murdered by an adult who had unsupervised access to them through his employment position in a school, and the consequent unprecedented public demand for Garda Vetting services in Ireland, an Inter-Departmental Working Group was established to make recommendations on the expansion of Garda Vetting Services in this Jurisdiction.

2. In February 2004, the Interdepartmental Working Group issued a report with a number of recommendations in relation to Garda Vetting in this jurisdiction; the primary one being that the Garda Vetting service should be extended, on a phased basis to all organisations in this Jurisdiction employing personnel in a full-time, part-time, voluntary or student placement capacity to work with children and/or vulnerable adults (Working Group Report on Garda Vetting, 2004).  

3. Subsequent to this, the Interdepartmental Working Group on Garda Vetting became the Interdepartmental Implementation Group on Garda Vetting.  This Group is still in existence and under its auspices the current expansion programme of the Garda Vetting service commenced, on a phased basis, in January 2006.  Since that time the Garda Vetting service has been extended to over 18,000 organisations employing personnel in a full-time, part-time, voluntary or student placement capacity to work with children and/or vulnerable adults in this jurisdiction.

4. Before the Garda Vetting service is extended to an organisation, the organisation must be registered with the Garda Central Vetting Unit.  During the registration procedure the bona-fides of the organisation are established and a liaison person is appointed within the organisation to manage Garda Vetting applications and disclosures on behalf of the organisation.  Training is provided by the Garda Central Vetting Unit to each liaison person in the management of the Garda Vetting process within a Legislative, Human Rights and Natural Justice framework.  Hereinafter each such organisation is known as a Registered Organisation and each such liaison person is known as an Authorised Signatory.

5. Each Registered Organisation is responsible for submitting Garda Vetting applications in respect of its prospective employees directly to the Garda Central Vetting Unit; and in advance of doing so for validating the personal details in respect of the individual vetting subject.  Following processing at the Garda Central Vetting Unit, each Garda Vetting disclosure is issued directly to the Authorised signatory in the Registered Organisation which submitted it to the Garda Central Vetting Unit.  Garda Vetting disclosures are not issued directly to the individual vetting subject; but the individual vetting subject may request, and be provided with, a copy of it from the Registered Organisation which submitted it on his/her behalf.

6. This methodology was approved by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Garda Vetting, and is employed, inter-alia, for the following reasons;

a. As the registered organisation has the responsibility of validating the personal details in respect of the individual vetting subject before onward transmission of his/her application to the Garda Central Vetting Unit for processing, the risk of false personal details being provided by vetting subjects in Garda vetting applications is minimised.

b. As applications are transmitted directly from registered organisations to the Garda Central Vetting Unit, the risk of applications being fraudulently interfered with by any third party in advance of receipt at the Garda Central Vetting Unit is minimised.

c. As Garda Vetting Disclosures are issued directly from the Garda Central Vetting Unit to registered organisations, the risk of disclosures being fraudulently interfered with by any third party in advance of receipt in registered organisations is minimised.

d. As details in relation to prosecutions and/or convictions which may be recorded in respect of any individual are subject to change over time, updated vetting checks are conducted in respect of each Garda Vetting application received from each registered organisation and consequently up-to-date vetting disclosures are issued to each registered organisation in respect of each vetting application received from them; thus affording the organisation the facility of assessing a vetting disclosure in respect of an applicant for a position in their organisation which is synchronous with their decision making process in respect of the suitability of the said applicant.

7. Garda Vetting disclosures indicate details of all prosecutions, successful or not, pending or completed, and/or convictions which may be recorded in the State or elsewhere in respect of a Vetting Subject; or alternatively indicate that there are no prosecutions or convictions recorded in respect of a vetting subject.  Garda Vetting disclosures are predicated on the signed authorisation of each individual Vetting Subject on each individual application form authorising An Garda Siochana to disclose details of all prosecutions, successful or not, pending or completed, and/or convictions which may be recorded in the State or elsewhere in respect of them to the specific Registered Organisation concerned.  This disclosure policy was established on the advice of the Office of the Attorney General.  Each Garda Vetting disclosure is issued in writing to each Registered Organisation.

8. Overall, this methodology provides a direct working relationship between each  organisation in this jurisdiction seeking Garda Vetting disclosures in respect of prospective employees and the Garda Central Vetting Unit and in so doing protects the security, integrity, confidentiality and accountability of the overall Garda Vetting process; provides each registered organisation with Garda Vetting disclosures which are up-to-date at the time of their assessment of them; and minimises the risk of false, forged or fraudulent Garda Vetting disclosures being presented to employers by prospective employees in a manner similar to situations where individuals present false, forged or fraudulent passports or other documents to other Authorities.

9. Experience indicates that policy within Organisations registered with the Garda Central Vetting Unit is that vetting subjects cannot commence their position within the registered organisation until their Garda Vetting application is processed.  Any such policy within any such organisation is established within the organisation concerned and not by the Garda Central Vetting Unit.  This being the case, the Garda Central Vetting Unit is not in a position to advise in respect of any such policy.

10. Decisions in respect of the suitability of vetting subjects for positions in registered organisations are made withinin each registered organisation, and the Garda Central Vetting Unit has no input into any such decision.  Employment policy within each Registered Organisation is a matter for each specific Registered Organisation concerned and the Garda Central Vetting Unit has no input into employment policy in any such Registered Organisaiton.

11. There is no fee for Garda Vetting in this jurisdiction and the Garda Central Vetting Unit is not in a position to advise in respect of fiscal policy in this regard.

12. There is no legislation pertaining to the Garda Vetting System in this jurisdiction and the Garda Central Vetting Unit is not in a position to advise in respect of legislative policy.  In this regard, however, legislation pertaining to the Garda Vetting system in this jurisdiction is currently being drafted at Departmental level.  At this time there is no indication as to when this legislation may be enacted.

13. In general, Garda Vetting applications are processed on a first-come, first-serve basis in chronological order from date of receipt.  This is with a view to observing equity and fairness in respect of all vetting subjects.  Processing time fluctuates upwards and downwards depending on seasonal demands; volumes received; and the number, or nature, of queries to be conducted with external Garda Stations or agencies external to the Garda Central Vetting Unit such as the Courts Service.

14. Unfortunately, due to the increase in volumes of applications received since mid 2009, coupled with stringent resource constraints since late 2008 due to the Moratorium on Recruitment in the Public Service, it has not been possible to maintain average processing times at previously established levels and they are currently at an average of 10 weeks.

May 2011.
End.