Overseas Police Clearance

Under the Childcare Regulations 2016 all childcare staff need to be Garda Vetted PRIOR to commencing employment and ‘in so far as is practicable, where a person has lived in a state other than the State for a period of longer than 6 consecutive months, vetting information in respect of the person obtained from the police authorities in that state’¹.

The Garda Vetting that we process in Early Childhood Ireland only covers addresses in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.  If you hire an employee from another country or you are hiring an Irish employee who has resided in countries outside of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland for a period of 6 months or more, it is mandatory for them to obtain a Police Clearance Certificate from those countries stating that they have no convictions recorded against them while residing there. This should all be done PRIOR to the person commencing employment in the childcare service.

Useful websites:

• For information on Garda Vetting please see the Garda Vetting Section on our Early Childhood Ireland website: https://www.earlychildhoodireland.ie/work/operating-childcare-service/garda-vetting/

• Recruitment Policy – Early Childhood Ireland has a Policy template that may be useful in assisting you to update your own Recruitment Policy: https://www.earlychildhoodireland.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/recruitment-policy.pdf
  For all Early Childhood Ireland Policy templates see:
  https://www.earlychildhoodireland.ie/work/operating-childcare-service/policies-procedures/2016-regulations-policies-procedures/

• The Teaching Council of Ireland has a handy document with useful addresses regarding obtaining overseas police clearance: http://www.teachingcouncil.ie/en/Vetting/Overseas-Police-Clearance/How-to-get-a-police-certificate-.pdf

• ¹Part II Regulation 6.(5)(a) ‘Registration of pre-school service’ of Childcare Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016. Available at:   https://www.dcya.gov.ie/documents/publications/20160510ChildCareActEarlyYrsRegs2016SI221of2016.pdf