When we leave our children at the school door every morning, it’s important to know that they are in safe hands, and the Department of Justice and the Teaching Council of Ireland are going to great lengths to ensure this.
According to a report in the Irish Times this morning, some 34,000 registered teachers in the Republic of Ireland will face garda vetting over the course of the coming months.
Currently, under a provision introduced in 2006, only newly registered teachers and those moving schools are vetted for criminal offences, which has left major inconsistencies within the system.
Now, under the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012, these security checks will also extend to those teachers employed before 2006; this is thought to be around two-fifths of the total number of teachers registered by our national teaching council.
The Department of Justice confirmed that authorities will be screening for criminal offences as well as “information other than criminal convictions held by the gardaí that leads to a bona-fide belief that a person poses a threat to children or vulnerable persons”.
What are your thoughts on this latest update?
