E-sceal 533 - TY Student Placement & Garda Vetting
- Published: 18 October 2018
The Vetting Act, Section 12(3A) provides that where two or more relevant organisations jointly agree in writing to the employment, contract, placement or permission of a particular person to undertake relevant work or activities, it shall be a defence in any prosecution under Section 12(2) of the Act to show that the other organisation had received a vetting disclosure from the National Vetting Bureau, in respect of that persons employment, contracting or placement. It is at the discretion of each individual board to decide how they wish to deal with their vetting obligations and there is no onus on them to enter into joint arrangements.
Transition Year work experience requests are frequent topics submitted to IPPN’s Professional Guidance Team cyclically. It is advisable that the Chairperson of the Board of Management contact the school’s management body for advice on how to accommodate requests by transition year (TY) students whereby their representing organisations has obtained a vetting disclosure in respect of the person from the National Vetting Bureau. A person under the age of 16 cannot be Garda vetted.
CPSMA has prepared a template Joint Agreement for use by its member schools which requires the student to show their vetting disclosure to the school prior to commencing their placement. Additionally, a template statutory declaration form has been made available by CPSMA which should be signed by the TY student on their placement. The vetting disclosure reference number, the date and the person who viewed it should be recorded and kept on file.
It is essential to ensure that both the Agreement (and letter) and Statutory Declaration are completed by the other organisation and that the student or coach shows the school its original vetting disclosure prior to commencing in the school. The school should take note of the vetting disclosure reference number and the date and to whom it was shown and keep this information on the relevant placement file. It is important to note that the vetting disclosure itself should not be copied for data protection reasons.
