Vetting rules not robust enough, says department

Employers who work with children and vulnerable adults must be aware that vetting rules are not as robust as they should be and they may not have the “complete picture” about employees, according to the Department of Health.

Senior officials said the level of protection was dependent on the quality of the police information provided from different countries. They pointed out that current vetting rules did not allow for the release of information where no conviction or charge has occurred. This means a “perceived protection” of children and vulnerable adults may not be real, the department said.

The issue was raised in the “risk register”, a document which sets out areas of concern within the department, and received the highest rating possible for likelihood an incident would occur and the impact it would have.

The document says that although the Garda Central Vetting Unit has a relationship with the UK, it does not with other countries.

The Department of Justice is working on legislation around vetting which addresses cross-jurisdiction information exchanges, but it is not clear how robust this will be.

The ISPCC said a memorandum of understanding existed between the North, Britain, and the Republic on the sharing of information on sex offenders travelling within these jurisdictions but that it should be expanded.

“This needs to be developed further and discussions must be held to ensure best practice and the sharing of proper information across all jurisdictions,” said Caroline O’Sullivan of the ISPCC.

“We are not naive enough to believe this can be achieved without the expending of a great deal of time and effort, but it must be done.”

The proposed legislation, currently with the justice department, will allow for the exchange of soft information, which means that where there is concern someone may pose a threat to a child because of previous behaviour, this can be disclosed.

Children’s charity Barnardos said it had long called for the inclusion of “non-conviction data” to assist employers when assessing any candidates for positions working with children and strongly welcomed this.

Such a system has been in operation for years in the North while the UK government recently outlined its intention to scale back on its vetting and barring scheme, it is still advanced in comparison to the Irish system.

Barnardos advocacy director Norah Gibbons said it was important, however, that a person be allowed defend their good name and that strong safeguards should be in place under this part of the new laws.

She said: “If soft information is being disclosed then I think a person has the right to know so he or she can defend it and offer an explanation. We cannot have a scenario where there are whispering campaigns. This must be transparent.”