What is the situation regarding being cleared to work with children? Is it illegal for the employer to do it himself instead of the garda and hse which i assume should do it
Don't know about it being illegal to have the employer do it himself but I certainly wouldn't be happy with it. When I was working with children I had to be Garda Vetted.
I don't really understand your question. How would an employer 'clear' someone to work with kids? Has he access to Garda files or something? AFAIK, the only clearence to work with kids is Garda clearence. I've never heard of an employer doing it themselves.
Not sure he can do this, he wouldn't have access to the right information for a start. I volunteer with a youth organisation and we all have to be garda vetted. To do that we submit a form to the organisation listing every address (Ireland and abroad) we lived at since we left our parents home. They then pass that on to the guarda. It could take months but eventually your garda clearance will come back. I think the pertinant point to note is that you sign that form giving permission for them to vet you.
I know in Scotland there is a two or three tier system, some jobs require a full clearance, other just require a lower level called "disclosure". I'm not sure if this system is in place in Ireland though.
Jane Doe, what I meant was I don't understand how he could vet someone? I'm assuming he DOESN'T have access to garda files, so how could he vet them?? I don't know a whole lot about this, except that my sister had to get garda clearence for work.
Any employee or volunteer who works with children must be garda vetted. This should be done through the Garda Vetting Unit. You will have to return the form to your employer who sends it to the Vetting Unit, who in turn returns information to your employer.