Under Regulation 9 Management and Recruitment of the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years’ Services) Regulations 2016 all staff members or any persons in direct contact with children in an early years’ service must secure Garda Vetting Disclosure before employment/access commences. This includes Special Needs Assistants (SNA) employed by parents or the service, students, unpaid workers, contractors and members of Board of Management. Those who have lived in another country for more than six consecutive months must provide police vetting from the country in which they resided. 

Re-vetting is required every 36 months to ensure continued compliance.

For more detailed guidance on the vetting process and how to stay compliant, please refer to the full document in link below. 

See also info on requirements for Garda Vetting for students in link below.

The National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 (No. 47 of 2012) makes provision for the protection of children and vulnerable persons and it provides for the establishment and maintenance of a national vetting bureau (children and vulnerable persons) database system. This provides for the establishment of procedures that are to apply, in respect of persons who wish to undertake certain work or services or activities relating to children or vulnerable persons. The National Vetting Bureau Children & Vulnerable Persons Act, 2012 commenced on 29th April 2016. From the 29th April 2016 it is a criminal offence not to have Garda vetting disclosure when working with children and vulnerable adults.

New Garda Vetting Process.  

The new Garda Vetting system has been designed to strengthen and streamline compliance processes to improve efficiencies for everyone. The updates will affect how employers, childminders, and employees apply for or renew their Garda Vetting applications.
 
The priority is to safeguard children, keeping them safe in all settings throughout Ireland.
 
Starting from 1 February 2025, the following changes will take effect:

• Early Childhood Ireland (ECI) will manage Garda Vetting services for all early learning and care, and school-age childcare employees. You do not need to be a member of Early Childhood Ireland to access this free vetting service. You will, however, need to register with Early Childhood Ireland as a Garda Vetting User to access vetting services, this will be available from 1 February 2025.
• Tusla will manage Garda Vetting services for registered providers including childminders as well as Chairpersons of Boards of Management.
• As part of these changes, Barnardos will no longer provide vetting services. 

There is no need to reapply for Garda vetting if your current vetting is still valid (dated within the last three years). The recent changes only affect the process of where you apply for Garda vetting – for employees and for registered providers, or chairpersons of boards of management (if they are the registered provider). If your Garda Vetting is dated within the last three years, it remains valid, unless there has been a change in your employment status.
 
For vetting of employees:

• If your current provider is Barnardos and you have employees, you will be required to apply for a new Garda Vetting Affiliate Number for Early Childhood Ireland. This is a free service. We recommend that you take a proactive approach in transferring to your new provider to be ready for the 1 February 2025 commencement date and in advance of when you might next need Garda vetting services.
• Please contact the Garda National Vetting Bureau (GNBV) at gnvb.registration@garda.ie to progress your Affiliate Number application to ensure you have your new number to process submissions through Early Childhood Ireland.
• Please note that the process of obtaining a new affiliate number can take several weeks and you will have no access to Garda vetting services during this period. It is therefore important that you should only instigate a change in affiliate number when you have no vetting applications in progress and do not anticipate you will need vetting. If a service expects to need vetting between now and 31 January you should wait until after completing your upcoming vetting to proceed with changing affiliate number. 
• It is okay to instigate a change in your affiliate number after 31 January. 

For vetting of registered providers including childminders, single-handed operators and Chairpersons of Boards of Management

• Tusla will manage Garda Vetting services for registered providers including childminders, single-handed operators, and Chairpersons of Boards of Management. An affiliate number will not be required to access vetting through Tusla as they are a Regulatory Body. This vetting service is available to all childminders, including those who are not yet registered.

For further information, please visit the Gov.ie page with information on the new Garda Vetting procedures for the sector here. This page will be updated regularly with any further details or guidance.

The Acts create offences and penalties for persons who fail to comply with its provisions.