2831. Deputy Joe Neville asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department is aware of the current wait time issues in childcare caused by delays in the processing of Garda Vetting forms for childcare workers; if she will consult with the Minister for Justice Home Affairs and Migration to introduce a separate vetting section for childcare workers to ensure applications are processed in a timely manner, given the issues with childcare spaces and availability caused by this; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56231/26]

Garda Vetting is a legal requirement for all people working directly with children and vulnerable adults under the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts, 2012-2016. This Act falls under the remit of the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration.

The Department is, however, committed to engaging with the relevant officials in the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, and officials from both Departments have met recently to discuss these issues.

Early Childhood Ireland, who the Department funds to administer Garda vetting for staff working in Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare settings, have advised that a standard fully complete Garda vetting application currently takes 15-20 working days to process by the Garda National Vetting Bureau.

If the applicant has lived and/or lives in another EU country or the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland), their Garda Vetting application can take up to 10 additional working days for EU countries and up to 20 additional working days for the UK. These processing times are across all Garda Vetting applications and are not sector specific.

Processing times are also advised to this Department by the Garda National Vetting Bureau and are in line with Early Childhood Ireland timelines given above.

The Department does recognise the challenges for Early Years providers in recruitment and retention of staff in such a competitive labour market. However, safeguarding children and ensuring their safety is a priority and appropriate vetting must be in place for anyone working directly with children.

The Department engages on an ongoing basis with the Garda National Vetting Bureau to discuss operational issues and to ensure the sector is kept up to date on any vetting changes affecting Early Years services.

At a recent meeting, officials from the Garda National Vetting Bureau assured officials from this Department that every possible resource that can be deployed is being deployed to deal with Garda Vetting applications in the short term, and that it is anticipated that the impact of new resources should see an improvement in the turnaround times of Garda Vetting applications sometime this Autumn.

In terms of actions in the medium to long term, the Garda National Vetting Bureau are working on improvements to their IT systems and making it easier overall to engage with the Garda Vetting system without reducing the safeguarding barrier. We will continue to liaise with the Garda National Vetting Bureau to support the sector.