Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

Ar dtús, ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an bhfoireann in the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA. The work of this office is crucial to ensure that Private Members' Bills are produced and it offers us an important resource. Obviously, Government has an advantage when it comes to policy and legislative reform, given the resources available to it. The OPLA plays an important role. The complexities of the issues involved in drafting this Bill, the research and the skilled handling of same in the preparatory stages by the OPLA, demonstrates the team's expertise and I commend their work.

Everybody accepts the need for vetting and the Garda vetting system as a whole represents a crucial measure which protects children and vulnerable adults. Garda vetting is used in many contexts, for both paid and voluntary roles in which applicants are dealing with children or vulnerable adults. Individuals have nothing to fear from the process and it is an accepted part of the recruitment process for many jobs involving vulnerable people. However, for those who need to be vetted multiple times, for multiple roles, the process can be cumbersome. It has been described to me as draining, unnecessary and a disincentive to volunteers. We all know that since Covid, it has been more difficult to get volunteers to work in clubs.

I have met people who have had to be Garda vetted for community games and then again in the same year for a rowing club or a GAA club, as well as for their employment. In some places of employment, if you move posts, you have to be vetted again. This Bill is an attempt to facilitate or make things a little easier for them. Recently, I spoke to a student who had just got a summer job at a camp. She has to be Garda vetted. There can be delays with housing applicants. Even though a person has already been Garda vetted, not once, twice or three times they must be Garda vetted yet again.

Only on Monday I was speaking to someone about the Bill and how I hope it will simplify the vetting process for workers and volunteers. He described it to me much better than I could have myself by saying that it seems to create a safe pass to somebody for three years. It would be for applicants within relevant organisations. It allows for this safe pass to be revoked where a criminal conviction occurs. Obviously this Bill does not refer to it as a safe pass but as a register of generalised consents, which I hope will be more effective than the status quofor those who need to be vetted multiple times.

Section 2 amends the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 by defining the register.

Section 3 amends section 6 of the same Act to include the register of general consents as a register that is required to be included in the Garda National Vetting Bureau database system.

Section 4 requires the chief bureau officer to establish and then maintain a register of general consents in relation to each person who consents to the disclosure of information for the purpose of any application or any vetting disclosure. A person who gives this general consent will remain on this register for a period of three years. This section further requires the bureau to review regularly the register and update any information contained on the register. If, during the course of time, the bureau becomes aware in any review that a person has a criminal record or considers that there is specified information in relation to that person, the bureau must remove that person from the register. For those purposes, someone who has given a general consent must notify the bureau of certain changes of circumstance, such as if a name or address has changed. Section 7 creates a penalty for anyone who fails to notify the bureau of any material change.

Section 5 provides for a procedure for making an application for a vetting disclosure on a person who is entered on the register. Under this procedure it will no longer be necessary for the person in respect of whom the application is made to consent to the vetting procedure concerned or to provide all the information that is already contained on this register.

Section 6 provides that where a person has given consent to a vetting disclosure the person may at any time prior to the making of a vetting disclosure give a general consent to the disclosure of this information by the bureau to a liaison person who is a person appointed by a club, organisation or workplace for the purposes of any other application for a vetting disclosure. Therefore the information is there and that person, when the consent has been given during the course of the three years, can go and get that information without the formality and the bureaucracy of having to make another application, particularly in the same calendar year. The person’s information will be included in the register of general consents. The person will be deemed for the three years to have consent to any application for a vetting disclosure and disclose of information on foot of such an application. The person will not, however, be registered if the vetting disclosure concerned discloses a criminal record or if the bureau considers that there is specified information relating to that person or if the person is under 18 years.

In the research around this Bill, I saw that a number of other TDs had inquired over recent years about the creation of a one-off solution for vetting. I believe there is significant appetite there for a change like this or similar to it. I hope that if the Government does not implement this Bill itself that it would use the proposals to simplify the procedure to facilitate volunteers and workers and to enhance and embellish the lives of children and vulnerable adults by keeping them safe.

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