Garda vetting is to be extended this month to all people working with children such as teachers, caretakers and bus drivers, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin announced today.
Ms Hanafin said people in daily contact with vulnerable adults would also be subject to vetting by the middle of November.
However Ms Hanafin said she hoped these measures wouldn't discourage volunteerism in society.
"Vetting will be extended to all persons working with children and with vulnerable adults," Ms Hanafin said. "This will include teachers, caretakers, bus drivers and others who work with children.
"We will be able to start that process as soon as the extra resources and staff are put in place, which I understand will be the middle of this month."
Ms Hanafin said vetting of the members of boards of management of schools was a wider issue. "We see many parents who help out with school activities like school tours but what is crucial is to see to what extent people have unsupervised access to children. "What we don't want to do while protecting children is to destroy volunteerism in the country either."
The ISPCC had criticised the Government's delay in extending vetting to all adults working with children.
Minister for Children Brian Lenihan announced in September last year that anyone hoping to be a teacher or work in a school, a crèche or a children's sports facility, or in the voluntary sector with children, would have to obtain Garda clearance.
The Garda Central Vetting Unit, which has been decentralised to Thurles, will process the phased expansion of vetting to all adults working with children and vulnerable adults.