Section 19 of the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012 to 2016 - the new Irish vetting legislation, known until now as Garda vetting – lists out the types of organisations that are obliged to contact the National Vetting Bureau as and when the organisation comes into possession of that organisation.
The section deals with the types of organisations required to notify the National Vetting Bureau in the event that the organisation becomes aware of information that would cross the threshold to be categorised as ‘specified information’.
Section 19 creates two obligations. The first obligation is a general obligation on so-called ‘scheduled organisations’ in general to notify the National Vetting Bureau. The second obligation is specifically aimed at the Health Service Executive (HSE) which is the state body responsible for the delivery of public health services throughout the Republic of Ireland.
As with other areas in the vetting legislation, the notion of natural justice is very important. As such, when a scheduled organisation decides it is going to make a notification about a person to the National Vetting Bureau, the legislation says it can’t do this in a vacuum: the scheduled organisation is under a statutory duty to inform the person about the notification being made. It also must ensure that the information contained in the report was accurate, and if it wasn’t accurate, it must update the Bureau of any inaccuracies previously reported.
Finally, section 19 deals with the nomination and appointment of persons as the ‘approprate person’ (or persons) within the scheduled organisation, who will be responsible for making a notification to the Bureau. The failure to make adhere to the notification requirements, where a valid concern is raised and which is one that meets the statutory threshold, will trigger the commitment of a new criminal offence, which has substantial criminal justice penalties attached to it.
STATUTORY OBLIGATION TO NOTIFY
In one of our earlier essays we specifically looked at what makes information become ‘specified information’ as envisaged by the vetting legislation. Check it out here.
Scheduled organisations required to notify specified information to Bureau.
SPECIFIC OBLIGATION ON THE HSE
The Health Service Executive (HSE) is the state body responsible for the delivery of public health services throughout the Republic of Ireland. Given its enormous public services remit, the vetting legislation specifically places on the shoulders of the HSE an obligation to notify the National Vetting Bureau of any concerns that meet the statutory threshold. This duty is in specific reference to the statutory obligations placed on the HSE under the Child Care Act 1991.
OBLIGATION TO NOTIFY THE SUBJECT OF THE NOTIFICATION
As with other areas in the vetting legislation, the notion of natural justice is very important. As such, when a scheduled organisation decides it is going to make a notification about a person to the National Vetting Bureau, the legislation says it can’t do this in a vacuum: the scheduled organisation is under a statutory duty to inform the person about the notification being made. In fact, it’s a dual obligation: they must notify the person of:
- Their concern (as outlined in the legislation), and
- Their intention to notify the Bureau
It will be interesting down the line to see the impact (if any) that a defective notification creates e.g. where a scheduled organisation tells a person that they have a concern, but neglects to inform them of their intention to notify the National Vetting Bureau of that concern.
OBLIGATION TO FIX INACCURACIES IN INFORMATION NOTIFIED
Again, as part of the notion of natural justice that runs through the legislation, the scheduled organisation is under a statutory obligation to notify the Bureau of any inaccuracies or otherwise incorrect information that was submitted to the Bureau by the scheduled organisation as part of the notification of its concern about a person.
As you can see, the time period for letting the Bureau know about the mistakes or inaccuracies is ‘as soon as may be, after becoming its aware of its being incorrect or inaccurate’.
THE APPROPRIATE PERSON TO NOTIFY
A notification to the National Vetting Bureau can, potentially, have life-changing and career-changing consequences for the person about whom a concern is raised and reported.
To limit the potential for frivolous, unwarranted or vexatious notifications to be made to the Bureau, the legislation requires that all scheduled organisations must nominate someone from within their ranks, who is to act as the ‘appropriate person’. That person – the appropriate person – becomes the person responsible for notifying the Bureau of a concern held by the scheduled organisation about a particular person.
MULTIPLE APPROPRIATE PERSONS
In recognition of the fact that scheduled organisations can vary significantly in size, this part of s.19 allows for the appointment of multiple ‘appropriate persons’ whose job it would be to make a notification to the National Vetting Bureau.
NOMINATION AND REGISTRATION WITH THE BUREAU
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the fact that it’s the vetting legislation, someone can be nominated to act as the ‘appropriate person’ for a scheduled organisation. But – as with the appointment of a liaison person – they must still apply for a vetting disclosuse for that person. Furthermore, the National Vetting Bureau can refuse to register a person as an ‘appropriate person’ if the Chief Bureau Officer considers that person to be unsuitable for the person (based on the vetting disclosure); or if the Bureau considers that an excessive number of people have been nominated by the scheduled organisation.
Once a person’s nomination as the ‘appropriate person’ has been accepted by the National Vetting Bureay, their name is registered in the Bureau’s relevant register of appropriate persons.
Similar to the appointment of liaison persons, the scheduled organisation must ensure the information about persons appointed to act as ‘appropriate persons’ is kept up to date and accurate.
THE SECTION 19(8) NEW CRIMINAL OFFENCE
Here is the ‘sting in the tail’ of the section.
If a person contravenes (breaches, fails to abide by) the obligation to notify the Bureau in relation to specified information, then that person (whether an organisation, or an individual) becomes guilty of a criminal offence.
The penalties for that offence - the section 19(8) new criminal offence – can be found at section 27 of the vetting legislation, as set out below:
OBLIGATION TO NOTIFY BUREAU & GARDA SIOCHANA
One aspect of major historical failures in the area of vetting, and allowing inappropriate persons to have access to children and vulnerable adults, stemmed from information flow failures. Put another way, information did not always reach the desks of those who it should have reached, often because a report to one statutory agency was considered (by the person making the notification / report) to be equivalent to making a notification / report to all the relevant state agencies.
Section 19(9) of the vetting legislation specifically deals with this point.
It states that even if the ‘appropriate person’ has met the notification standards required of them under the vetting legislation – having made a report to the National Vetting Bureau consistent with the procedures and timelines set out above; this in itself does not allow the appropriate person to ‘wash their hands’ of the matter. If a separate notification should be made to the national policing authority – An Garda Siochana – then that notification should be made. A report to the Bureau is not a substitute for any other separate obligation to make a notification / report to the Garda Siochana.
SUMMARY
Section 19 of the vetting legislation deals with the types of organisations required to notify the National Vetting Bureau in the event that the organisation becomes aware of information that would cross the threshold to be categorised as ‘specified information’. Section 19 creates two obligations. The first obligation is a general obligation on so-called ‘scheduled organisations’ in general to notify the National Vetting Bureau. The second obligation is specifically aimed at the Health Service Executive (HSE) which is the state body responsible for the delivery of public health services throughout the Republic of Ireland.
As with other areas in the vetting legislation, the notion of natural justice is very important. As such, when a scheduled organisation decides it is going to make a notification about a person to the National Vetting Bureau, the legislation says it can’t do this in a vacuum: the scheduled organisation is under a statutory duty to inform the person about the notification being made. It also must ensure that the information contained in the report was accurate, and if it wasn’t accurate, it must update the Bureau of any inaccuracies previously reported.
Finally, section 19 deals with the nomination and appointment of persons as the ‘approprate person’ (or persons) within the scheduled organisation, who will be responsible for making a notification to the Bureau. The failure to make adhere to the notification requirements, where a valid concern is raised and which is one that meets the statutory threshold, will trigger the commitment of a new criminal offence, which has substantial criminal justice penalties attached to it.
This essay is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice.
Specific legal advice from a firm of solicitors should always be sought on the application of the law in any particular situation.
Whilst reasonable endeavours have been made to ensure the accuracy of the content, no liability whatsoever is accepted for any omissions or errors or for any action taken in reliance of the information in this essay.
