Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 85:

In page 11, after line 29, to insert the following:“Amendment of section 16 of Act of 2012

23.Section 16 of the Act of 2012 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of “a relevant organisation (other than a relevant organisation who applies for vetting on behalf of another relevant organisation in accordance with section 13(2)) contains” for “a relevant organisation contains”,(b) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2):

“(2) A relevant organisation (including a relevant organisation who applies for a vetting disclosure on behalf of another relevant organisation in accordance with section 13(2)) to whom a vetting disclosure is made in accordance with this Act may⁠—

(a) consider and take into account the information disclosed in the vetting disclosure when assessing the suitability of the person who is the subject of the disclosure to undertake relevant work or activities, and

(b) to the extent that it is so authorised by law other than by virtue of this section, consider and take into account, in accordance with such law, the information disclosed in the vetting disclosure when assessing the suitability of the person who is the subject of the vetting disclosure to be registered, licensed, considered fit to practice or otherwise authorised (howsoever described) to undertake relevant work or activities.”,

and

(c) in subsection (3), by the substitution of “otherwise than in accordance with this Act or as otherwise authorised by law” for “otherwise than in accordance with this Act”.”.

The purpose of this amendment is to make it clear that a vetting disclosure may be used by the relevant organisation to consider the suitability of the person to be employed. In addition, the new subsection (2) provides that the vetting disclosure can also be used for the purpose of registering, licensing or considering the fitness to practice of a person, where this is provided for by law. This is to ensure that where other legislation such as the Teaching Council Act or the Health and Social Care Act make provision for a vetting disclosure to be used for such purposes, this is explicitly recognised in the 2012 Act.

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