An Garda Síochána
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-19
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Barry Ward (FG), Dún Laoghaire

I am surprised the number is as low as that. I welcome the fact many of them are being dealt with in under ten days, but that does not accord with the anecdotal accounts being given to me. I do not know whether there is prioritisation within the system. There should be, because some of the applications are time sensitive. As regards the issues the Minister has raised, we can see in other jurisdictions that there is a central register, for example, with a rolling account for any individual that can be checked immediately. It should not be up to individual organisations like the Teaching Council or sports clubs to set up transferability. That should be done centrally.
It is very important that the recommendations from the Garda vetting review group bring an effectiveness to Garda vetting that means it will be operable and will work, particularly for volunteer organisations. When there is a significant delay in vetting, it discourages volunteers and makes it difficult for sports clubs to get the coaches in to teach the underage teams and things like that. Let us ensure we put in place measures that make vetting work for our communities, as much as anything else.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-19