A NUMBER of child welfare, sporting and cultural organisations have called on the Government to tighten proposed legislation dealing with the vetting of adults who work with children, saying current proposals are too ambiguous.
Representatives of the ISPCC, GAA, Swim Ireland and the Arts Council have all told a joint Oireachtas committee hearing submissions on the National Vetting Bureau Bill that the mooted legislation makes too many adults working with minors exempt from vetting.
The GAA’s national children’s officer Gearóid Ó Maoilmhicil asked why the legislation excludes from Garda vetting those adults who assist with, or have access to, children on an “ad hoc” basis.
“We believe that such a loose and undefined term is not appropriate and we would support the principle that any person working with children for any period of time should be vetted.”
He also called for the re-vetting of adults working with children, or who had access to children, if and when additional information becomes available to the National Vetting Bureau about somebody who has already cleared the vetting process.
Mr Ó Maoilmhicil was also concerned that when foreign nationals were being vetted, in some cases the police forces in the country of origin offered “zero” assistance in checking a person’s background. The ISPCC echoed the GAA’s concerns relating to exemptions for adults working with minors on an ad-hoc basis.
The chairman of the Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, David Stanton TD said the submissions from the groups present at yesterday’s hearing would inform amendments to the Bill before it was enacted.
