Volunteers discouraged by repeated Garda vetting, Leitrim County Council hears

Repeated Garda vetting required for joining different community organisations as volunteers is deterring people from volunteering, Leitrim County Council has heard.

Cllr Maeve Reynolds called on Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan TD, to reform the Garda vetting system, which she said is placing “unnecessary obstacles on volunteers and voluntary groups.”

“Obviously safeguarding is essential when you’re talking about children and vulnerable people, and it must remain priority,” said Cllr Reynolds.

“People who volunteer across a number of community organisations are required to undergo repeated vetting for each one, often multiple times in the same year,” she added.

She told members she was Garda vetted three times last year for three different organisations, where the same documentation was sent to the same Gardaí, to get the same result back.

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“It’s not an effective use of anyone’s time. Not the volunteer, not the organisation that’s processing the applications and not An Garda Síochána. It creates delays and discourages participation,” Cllr Reynolds said.

She suggested a streamlined system where people are Garda vetted once, which can then be used for any organisation they may want to take part in.

Cllr Reynolds also noted that in 2021 an interdepartmental group was set up to review the Garda vetting process, but no results of that review have been published to date, four years later.

“We need a streamlined system to protect the integrity of safeguarding and also reduce the duplication, supporting volunteers and strengthening our community services,” she urged.

Cllr Reynolds’ motion was unanimously supported by all members of Leitrim County Council.

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Cllr Cormac Flynn highlighted further issues with the process that cause frustration for those going through it. 

He noted that child protection training which teachers and GAA coaches must undergo is also mandatory for other sporting organisations such as the IRFU and Basketball Ireland.

“I’ve asked numerous times for Sporting Ireland to bring in a single sign-in Garda vetting that can be pulled out like a teacher council number and a single sign-in child protection training to be delivered once,” said Cllr Flynn.

A school principal, he also noted that he has had to leave SNAs “at the gates of the school” at times because their Garda vetting form hadn’t been processed yet, even though they were already vetted for another school but not his. 

As a result, children were left without SNAs for a week or more until their vetting was completed.

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