2994. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the measures being taken to address lengthy Garda vetting delays for childcare workers, which providers report are contributing to staffing shortages and room closures; whether consideration is being given to a transferable vetting system for childcare employees moving between services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62138/26]

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 (‘ECI’), 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 (‘GNVB’) and are in line with ECI 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 GNVB 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 GNVB 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 GNVB 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 GNVB to support the sector.