Vetting law changes spark concerns

TELLING employers that a potential employee may pose a risk to children, even though he has not been convicted of any such crime, may be in breach of the Constitution.

The Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) said new legislation covering this area also placed “undue burdens” on organisations which will be expected to conduct their own investigations into employees.

It said the Scheme of the National Vetting Bureau Bill 2011 extended the scope of workplaces subject to vetting to include all civil servants and local authority employees, even those not in contact with children.

The state watchdog said this appeared to be “disproportionate”.

The draft bill, introduced by Justice Minister Alan Shatter last July, aims to put the current unregulated Garda vetting system on a statutory footing, including the establishment of a National Vetting Bureau. The bill will allow the bureau to give a determination on an applicant based on soft information, such as information gained during the course of an investigation which did not result, or has yet to result, in a conviction.

“The IHRC recommends that serious consideration be given to removing the provision for the disclosure by the chief bureau officer to a registered organisation or prosecution information in circumstances where no conviction was secured.

“The disclosure of such information may be contrary to the protection of the Constitution under Articles 38 [due process] and 40 [person rights] and possibly Article 6 [fair trial] of the European Convention on Human Rights.”

Welcoming the decision to bring in legislation, the commission said further safeguards “must be” included to protect the rights of individuals.

The body questioned why entire sections of the workforce in the public sector (basically all civil servants and local authority employees) were subject to vetting even though they are not in contact with children. It said vetting for state security reasons should be covered in separate legislation.

Meanwhile, the Irish Penal Reform Trust has called on the Government to commit to specified time-frames on addressing sub-standard prison conditions and lack of independent complaints mechanism. The group commented after Ireland’s participation at the United Nations Periodic Review in Geneva last week.

“While we very much welcome the unequivocal acceptance by Government of all the recommendations on prison conditions, this is not the first time that an Irish government has committed on the international stage to addressing these issues,” said IPRT’s Liam Herrick.