Garda Vetting workshop 6

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Garda Vetting workshop 6
Sarah
Williams
Programme Manager

Volunteering Ireland
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(No Transcript)
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What is Garda Vetting?
Garda Vetting is a procedure through which An
Garda Siochana is asked, with a persons
permission, to disclose any information held on
police file. Within current disclosure policy,
details of all convictions and/or prosecutions,
successful or not, pending or completed, in the
State or elsewhere as the case may be are
disclosed to the authorised liaison person in the
registered organisation. Garda Vetting is an
important part of volunteer recruitment but
should be seen as one part of a much wider
process in making sure that a volunteer is
suitable to work with children or vulnerable
adults and should be undertaken alongside the
following - Your
organisation has a volunteer policy which is
used - Volunteers are
asked to complete an application form
- Face to Face Interviews take
place - References are
thoroughly checked and recorded
- Ongoing support, supervision and
evaluation takes place
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Is Garda Vetting the same as Garda Clearance?
No there is no such thing as Garda
Clearance! The function of the Garda Central
Vetting Unit is to disclose details regarding
all prosecutions, successful or not, pending or
completed, and / or convictions in respect of an
individual applicant to a registered
organisation. The Garda Vetting Unit does not
provide clearance for persons to work with
children, vulnerable adults or any other capacity
in a registered organisation. Based on the
information gathered during volunteer
recruitment, reference checking, interview,
training, induction and ongoing supervision, only
the organisation itself can decide if a person is
suitable to volunteer in any particular
programme.
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History and Background to Garda Vetting

• Murphy Report was published in 1998 (investigated
  sexual abuse of young swimmers)
• The courts determined that organisations could,
  in certain circumstances, be held liable for
  failing to protect persons in their charge.
• The subsequent national guidelines for protection
  and welfare (Children First, Dept Health
  Children, 1999) made it clear that organisations
  offering relevant services have a moral
  obligation to provide the highest possible
  standard of care and may be legally responsible
  in the event of a failure to offer adequate
  safeguards.

A dedicated Garda Central Vetting Unit (GCVU) was
established in 2002 to deal exclusively with
vetting. In 2006, it was significantly
strengthened to facilitate the expansion of
availability to meet the demands of vetting paid
staff and volunteers across a wide range of
sectors.
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Some facts about Garda Vetting

• The Garda Central Vetting Unit (GCVU) provides
  the only official vetting service in the Republic
  of Ireland
• Local Garda Stations DO NOT provide vetting at a
  local level (see handout)
• Vetting is not freely available applications
  must be processed through an organisation that is
  already registered with the GCVU or another
  organisation which can act as an intermediary for
  a particular sector or group. (usually called a
  Vetting Consortium)
• Individuals cannot request Garda Vetting
  information from the GCVU. All applications must
  go through an organisation

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More facts about Garda Vetting

• Information disclosed through the Garda Vetting
  process cannot be passed on to any other
  organisation or third party
• There is no fee for Garda Vetting
• It takes approximately 4 weeks for the GCVU to
  process vetting forms. However, this may vary due
  to the following volume of applicants, incorrect
  form completion, delay in sending forms from
  organisation to the GCVU etc.
• Garda vetting is conducted in respect of
  personnel working in a full-time, part-time, and
  voluntary or student placement capacity in a
  position in a registered organisation, through
  which they have unsupervised access to children
  and/or vulnerable adults. 

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What is the procedure for seeking Garda Vetting
for an Organisation?

• If you are an organisation seeking Garda Vetting
  for your personnel, the Chief Executive Officer
  or Managing Director of the organisation should
  write to the Garda Central Vetting Unit providing
  the following details-
• A description of the service provided by the
  organisation
• The approximate number of personnel requiring
  vetting per annum
• The level of substantial unsupervised access
  personnel will have to children and/or vulnerable
  adults
• Any additional relevant information e.g.
  organisational literature or certificates of
  registration in respect of charitable status
• On receipt of this information, the Garda Central
  Vetting Unit will respond directly to the
  applicant organisation.

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Whether your organisation is registered to have
its own in house Authorised Signatory, or you
access information from the GCVU through a
Vetting Consortium, the process is generally as
follows

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Volunteer completes Garda Vetting Form, paying
very careful attention to include all relevant
details Volunteer then gives completed form to
their Volunteer Coordinator

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Volunteer Coordinator double checks the
information, ensuring that everything is filled
in properly and no dates are missingVolunteer
Coordinator then sends the batch of forms to
the GCVU. They must complete a batch header and
also provide their A.S. number etcRemember,
only Authorised Signatories can do this

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The GCVU receive the application forms, and
process the details.The information provided
by the potential volunteer is checked against the
pulse systemThis takes approx. 4 weeks.

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The Volunteer Coordinator receives the
information back from the GCVUThe information
disclosed will be safely stored on the
volunteers file, and form part of the overall
assessment of whether the volunteer is suitable
for the programme or not

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Data Protection
It is absolutely vital that organisations adhere
to Data Protection considerations. Sensitive
information may be disclosed as part of this
process and it is your duty to ensure that this
information is treated with respect and in a
confidential manner. What is expected of you
with regards to Data Protection, will be clearly
outlined to you, either from your existing
Authorised Signatory, your future training as an
Authorised Signatory or from the person who
coordinates the Vetting Consortium your
organisation is part of.

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Contact details
Garda Central Vetting Unit Garda Criminal Records
Office Data Protection Processing Unit Racecourse
Road Thurles Co. Tipperary T (0504) 27300
www.garda.ie

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