Garda Vetting

Seamo87

I'm in between my degree and teaching diploma. Need teaching experience to gain a place in PGCE, and obviously have to have Garda Vetting clearance before I can work with children.

Sent my Garda Vetting form away last March and still nothing back. Has anyone else had issues with Garda Vetting and the time process involved to be specific? How long more can I expect to wait??

I have a clean record, and have no problem having to prove so, but this whole process is a bureaucratic mess which makes me want to forget about teaching before I've even begun and just emigrate.

looksee

Apply for the teaching anyway and explain the situation if/when you are asked about vetting. If the school wants you they will wait for the vetting.

I agree it is a ridiculous situation though, if people were vetted per, say, five years, instead of every time their job/work experience situation changed the queues would not be so long. If an offence were committed in the meantime it should be legal for your employer to be notified that there had been a change to your clearance situation.

galvolcentre

Hi,

If you have sent vetting form as an individual, and not through an organisation - this may be the cause of the problem. All Garda Vetting is done by the Garda Vetting Bureau in Thurles, and they only vet on behalf of organisations. If you are seeking employment, then it is the employer who will vet on your behalf - they should ask you to complete and sign a vetting form that they then sign and send to the Bureau. The Bureau recognises the organisations signature and carries out the vetting. At the moment this process from the time the form is sent to the Bureau and returned is taking about 8 weeks.

I hope that clarifies it?

oat

Hi, I'm starting a new job next week and trying to get all my documents sorted. Do I have to get the garda vetting form myself or does the school give it to me? I did it last year but I forget. Thanks

galvolcentre

The school should give it to you, you complete it and give it back to them and they'll send it off to the Vetting Bureau. Thats how it SHOULD work!

gman2k

galvolcentre wrote: »

Hi,

If you have sent vetting form as an individual, and not through an organisation - this may be the cause of the problem. All Garda Vetting is done by the Garda Vetting Bureau in Thurles, and they only vet on behalf of organisations. If you are seeking employment, then it is the employer who will vet on your behalf - they should ask you to complete and sign a vetting form that they then sign and send to the Bureau. The Bureau recognises the organisations signature and carries out the vetting. At the moment this process from the time the form is sent to the Bureau and returned is taking about 8 weeks.

I hope that clarifies it?

galvolcentre wrote: »

The school should give it to you, you complete it and give it back to them and they'll send it off to the Vetting Bureau. Thats how it SHOULD work!

Unfortunately, that's not how it actually works. Don't be surprised if it takes 6 months, even if an organisation sends it in on your behalf. That's my recent experience. Without getting into too much of a rant, the people charged with running this farce of a system should be sacked. (be they civil servants, Gardai etc.)

meoklmrk91

My friend had to get Garda Vetting for her work experience, it took around 3-4 months if I remember correctly. She sent away for it through our school, it came back just in the nick of time, 2 days before work experience started, if she didn't have it she would not have been able to do work experience. Its obviously important and I am glad it is there but I think that they do a very bad job of it I think, just like every other official document in this country, i.e passports and driving licenses, just don't understand why they have to take so long.

galvolcentre

Hi gman2k, I understand your frustration, but what I said was correct. We send forms to the Garda Vetting Bureau every week and keep a check on how long it takes. To be fair to the Bureau they are completely underresourced and deal with thousands of applications every week. Just to clarify as well, the Garda Vetting Bureau will not vet forms on behalf of individuals, so there is no point in individuals sending them in. It wouldn't make sense - I could fill out a form using somebody else's details and get their criminal record. This is one of the main reasons the Bureau will only accept forms signed by a representative of an organisation that has done some training with them.

I think that the delay you mention can often caused by local organisations having to send forms to somebody else in their organisation and on and on, before (and after) the Vetting Bureau deals with it. Also some organisations will wait until they get a batch of forms together before they send them off. Depending on the organisation, that could take quite a while.

We get forms from small charities and send them off straight away to the Vetting Bureau, and they come back about 8 weeks later, and the time is steadily getting shorter. The time it takes can depend on how many staff the Vetting Bureau at any given time.

All that being said, there must be a better way that allows individuals to be able to share their criminal record (or lack of!) with prospective employers. As far as I know an ID card system is used in Australia.

Rhalliord

it takes about eight weeks, from the date they recieve them in the garda vetting unit. NOT eight weeks from when one sends it in to the organisation. I've heard cases where forms are sitting on the organisations desk for anything over 6 months. Generally the straight forward ones take about eight weeks to process. But it can take longer if you have been living in Northern Ireland , as they ask them to do a search on NI address. Or of course it will take longer if there is anything on the person.

Trishy_Baby

Hi, yeah I agree, it is usually sent off through the organisation you are going working for. I got mine sent off through my college, and then when I went on work experience they sent it for me. However it does take ages for it to come through, but I was lucky and allowed to work on whilst it came through

Mansized Wreath

Sorry to dig up this thrend but Garda vetting is nuts in this country. Vetting on my last job took 8 months, i'd to sit idle on welfare the entire time. I've had a new job offer and dropped the form into the organization yesterday,they say they'll have it back in a month, I'm not confident. It's extremely annoying how slow it is.

endacl

galvolcentre wrote: »

Hi,

If you have sent vetting form as an individual, and not through an organisation - this may be the cause of the problem. All Garda Vetting is done by the Garda Vetting Bureau in Thurles, and they only vet on behalf of organisations. If you are seeking employment, then it is the employer who will vet on your behalf - they should ask you to complete and sign a vetting form that they then sign and send to the Bureau. The Bureau recognises the organisations signature and carries out the vetting. At the moment this process from the time the form is sent to the Bureau and returned is taking about 8 weeks.

I hope that clarifies it?

Can't apply for vetting as an individual. Only through an organization.

It's a pain in the ar5e of a system. Last application (of many over the last 5 years) took from august till December last year.

If they kept the applications on file, at least they could simply check since the last clearance.

Or if organization A would accept an up to date clearance processed through organization B...

But that might make sense. Wouldn't be the Irish way...

Chris68

Can you not just get vetted through the teaching council? That vet would then be usable for up to two years where-ever you went to work.

endacl

Chris68 wrote: »

Can you not just get vetted through the teaching council? That vet would then be usable for up to two years where-ever you went to work.

You have to be, as part of your registration.

electoralshock

Hi

If you are already garda vetted through the teaching council do you have to be vetted again?

I was vetted in 2012. However I am starting a contract in September. Do I need to get vetted again?

Crazyteacher

Yes , it needs to be updated every other year. You can reapply by contacting the vetting section of the council by email ,and the school may also give you a blank form to fill in again . Vetting@teachingcouncil.ie

electoralshock

Crazyteacher wrote: »

Yes , it needs to be updated every other year. You can reapply by contacting the vetting section of the council by email ,and the school may also give you a blank form to fill in again . Vetting@teachingcouncil.ie

Thanks for your reply. I was wondering was it every 2nd year or now. I requested the form so hopefully it wont take long.

Crazyteacher

There's no specific timeline really , I know the vetting needs to be from 2014 or the previous year especially if subbing. Then some schools still redo it even if you have a current one already, It'll be out to you tomorrow or the day after . It's the busy time of the year so expect it to take longer than normally advertised.

electoralshock

Considering that I will be re-employed by the same school and I have only ever subbed in that school. Would you think that 2(b) in the link below would include me?

http://www.teachingcouncil.ie/garda-vetting/des-circular-letter-00632010.504.html

Crazyteacher

Looks like your all set then

electoralshock

Crazyteacher wrote: »

Looks like your all set then

Thank you for your help

Pinkycharm

electoralshock wrote: »

Hi

If you are already garda vetted through the teaching council do you have to be vetted again?

I was vetted in 2012. However I am starting a contract in September. Do I need to get vetted again?

I think you are vetted every year as you renew your licence with the Teaching Council- so i was told by a teacher anyways!