Youth Council welcomes Garda Vetting staff increase

The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) has welcomed the announcement by Alan Shatter TD, Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence that 25 additional staff will be redeployed to the Garda Central Vetting Unit (GCVU).

Olive Ring, NYCI National Child Protection Manager said:

“We voiced our concerns to the Minister when delays in vetting reached up to 12 weeks at some stages last year, so it is good to see action being taken on this now.

“We welcome the additional staff allocation for the Garda Central Vetting Unit, and hope that this will be sufficient to both meet increased demand, and reduce waiting times for youth organisations looking to vet volunteers and employees.”

“We look forward to receiving clarification on the starting date of the newly deployed staff. It will be important that waiting times for vetting are kept under review, to ensure that the National Vetting Bureau continues to have adequate capacity to meet increased demand,” concluded Ms Ring.

The NYCI Vetting Consortium – which helps youth organisations around Ireland with vetting applications to the GCVU – processed over 2,800 applications in 2012 and expects to see a further increase on this in 2013 following the introduction of the National Vetting Bureau Act.

ENDS

For further information, please contact Daniel Meister, Communications Manager at NYCI on 087 781 4903 or 01 425 5955 or email communications@nyci.ie

Notes to Editors:

National Youth Council of Ireland

The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) is a membership-led umbrella organisation that represents and supports the interests of voluntary youth organisations and uses its collective experience to act on issues that impact on young people.

NYCI Child Protection Programme
The NYCI Child Protection Programme works with youth work organisations and others in assessing and addressing the child protection needs of the youth work sector.
The Child Protection Programme (formerly known as the Child Protection Unit) was established in late 2004 as part of the implementation of the National Youth Work Development Plan.