Garda Vetting Compliance
It is illegal for early years educators to start work in an early childhood setting, until their Garda Vetting has been completed, under Schedule 1, Part (1) of the Garda National vetting Bureau Act 2012.
A person guilty of an offence under section 26 shall be liable –
- on summary conviction, to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, or
- on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or both.
A person guilty of an offence under section 24(6) shall be liable on summary conviction to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both.
It is the owner/ manager’s responsibility to ensure that they follow the procedure outlined by their Recruitment Policy1 when hiring employees and unpaid workers, including the steps to be taken to check and verify references, qualifications and vetting documentation.
We recommend that when an owner/manager receives an email confirmation from us that a link has been sent to the potential employee from the National Vetting Bureau, they should check that the employee has received the link and completed it . If the potential employee has not received the link, check their email address and then contact us on 01 405 7102, to check the correct email address is in the system. If it needs amending, we can then change this and another link will be resent to the applicant.
Police vetting is also required for people who have lived in a state or country outside of Ireland for more than 6 consecutive months. We have more information on Police vetting here.
For more information, see the Garda Vetting Section on our website or phone the Garda Vetting Department on 01 405 7102.
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1 A sample Recruitment Policy is on the Tusla website