A review group on Garda vetting has failed to issue a report five years after it was established to make recommendations on creating a more effective and efficient system.
Government backbencher Malcolm Byrne said it was “deeply frustrating for sports clubs, youth groups and anyone working with children” because of years-long problems with the system and ongoing protracted delays in vetting of individuals.
“Somebody could work in a childcare facility and at the same time could be training juvenile athletes as well as being involved in a stage school involving young people,” and they would require separate vetting for each, he said.
The Fianna Fáil TD also highlighted “bizarre” differences in public and private services, including for school bus drivers, amid the continued delays.
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If a person drives a school bus for Bus Éireann, either directly or under contract, they have to be vetted – but not if they are driving the same group of young people for a private bus company.
An individual working or volunteering with children or vulnerable adults must go through a background check by the Garda National Vetting Bureau, which checks if they have a criminal record or any history that may pose a threat.
The Wicklow-Wexford TD said the vetting working group involved all relevant Government departments and agencies, including justice, health, children, public expenditure and the Taoiseach as well as the Garda, the HSE, the Public Appointments Service and Tusla.
The group failed to issue a report as promised within six months of its establishment in April 2021. More than four years later in September 2025, it emerged “the group had not agreed a formal report but had provided an update” and the Department of Justice would work on its recommendations.
Byrne said in a parliamentary reply last month he was told the Department of Justice “was now looking at some of the issues from the Garda vetting review group and that there would be some key changes and a need to amend legislation and, indeed, have an updated technology system”.
He said: “For a working group that was charged with delivering a more efficient and effective system in its own operation, it was not particularly effective or efficient.”
However, Minister of State for Justice Niall Collins said last year the bureau received more than 6,330 vetting applications and 85 per cent were dealt with within nine working days.
He acknowledged “aspects of the current vetting system result in a highly segmented process”.
But he told the Byrne steps are being taken following the review group’s work, to ensure the system “remains robust and effective”.
It will include implementing changes where individuals will not have to repeat the vetting process if they “move to another role within the same risk category”.
Speaking in the Dáil this week Collins said amending legislation will be necessary for such changes, along with “updated technical systems to support the revised approach”.
However, Byrne said: “I don’t think we needed five years of a review group to tell us that. That’s something I think we all knew.”
The Minister of State told him the vetting system would be updated to allow similar “portability” of vetting for volunteers in community organisations that applies for teachers.
He said the Teaching Council allows teachers, once vetted “to move from one school to another without re-vetting”.
“Consequently, if this system of portability is safe for engagement with our school children, I believe a version of portability must also be safe for broader application.”
