An Garda Síochána

Wednesday, 22 January 2025

Questions (985)

Martin Kenny

Question:

985. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons under 18 years listed on the Register of Specified Information as of 1 January in each of the years from 2010 to 2023, in tabular form. [1104/25]

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Written answers

Minister for Justice

As the Deputy will be aware, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the administration and management of An Garda Síochána, which includes the management of the Garda Vetting system. As Minister, I have no role in these independent functions.

The legal obligation on a Scheduled Organisation to notify the National Vetting Bureau of specified information, pursuant to section 19, began on 29 April 2016 with the commencement of the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012. Therefore, there are no statistics available for the years 2010 to 2015.

I have sought the information requested by the Deputy from the Garda authorities. The table below, sets out the number of persons under 18 years listed on the Register of Specified Information from 2016 to 2023.

I am advised that, of the notifications received in respect of persons under 18 years of age, the majority are aged 17 years and turn 18 before the end of the year in which the notification is received.

Year	Number of persons under 18 years listed on the Register of Specified Information
2016	Nil
2017	Nil
2018	Nil
2019	Nil
2020	Nil
2021	Fewer than 10
2022	Fewer than 10
2023	Nil

I am informed by the Garda authorities that data is not released by An Garda Síochána for counts less than 10, for data protection and security reasons.