Garda Vetting for Your Club

 

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The National Vetting Bureau Act

The National Vetting Bureau Act was signed by the President of Ireland on 26 December 2012.  Once the implementation date is decided by the Government, which could be any time in the very near future, it will be illegal for any volunteer or coach to work with children or vulnerable adults on a continuous basis before successfully completing the Garda Vetting process.


Revetting and retrospective vetting is to be determined by the Minister at a future date.

Click here for an overview of what's in the Bill.

Alternatively if you would like to see the full Act you can visit -

http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/bills28/acts/2012/a4712.pdf  

 

In January of 2006 at the request of the Irish Sports Council Tennis Ireland agreed to start a process for vetting for all professional staff and voluntary staff connected with the association. Following a Tennis Ireland Board of Directors meeting on the 10th March 2007 it was decided to put in place a proces where all members of Tennis Ireland, its Provincial branches, and affiliated clubs,  who worked as a volunteer staff member or as a professional staff member would have to apply to be vetted.

 

Tennis Ireland has divided this project into three distinct phase. The following phases of this project have been set out as follows:

 

Phase One - Tennis Ireland

  • The Board of Directors to be vetted.
  • All full-time and contract staff of Tennis Ireland to be vetted.
  • All Core Committees of Tennis Ireland to be vetted.

Phase Two - Provincial and Parks

  • Provincial Branch Committees to be vetted
  • All Provincial Branch employees, both full-time and contract staff to be vetted.
  • All Provincial Branch Core Commitees to be vetted.
  • All Junior Open Tournament Committeesto be vetted.
  • All Parks Tennis Committees to be vetted.
  • All full-time and part-time staff to be vetted.

Phase Three - Clubs and Coaches

  • All registered TICA staff and its members to be vetted
  • All tennis clubs, affiliated to Tennis Ireland, including club committees, full-time staff and voluntary staff to be vetted.

*If you fit into any of these categories and have yet to send a completed Garda Vetting form back to Tennis Ireland please do so as soon as possible, indicating the club you are a member of and the role that you play within it.

The Garda Vetting process is an important step in implementing the Code of Conduct and Good Practice for Children in Tennis. Each organisation/club working within tennis is committed to protecting all those working with young people and to providing a safe environment for all. The garda vetting process is just one step in the process of implementing the ‘Code’. Leaders should also sign a code of conduct within their club / organisation and children and leaders should be adequately supervised.
 
The following is some information to assist you in completing the form in an efficient manner.
 
Be sure to:-
• Fill out the form yourself - do not bring it to a local garda station.
• Return the form to Tennis Ireland. The form is signed by the Tennis Ireland  Authorised Signature on behalf of ‘Tennis’ who will send all forms to the Garda Central Vetting Unit
• List all addresses, starting at your first address at birth up to the present time, even if you have lived outside of Ireland
• Print the information, forms that cannot be read are returned to Tennis Ireland by the GVCU
• Declare all convictions or cases pending, even if you don’t think it’s relevant
• Sign the form and list your position within tennis, e.g. , selector, committee member, coach, tournament official.
 
Send the form to Tennis Ireland, where the last section will be completed by the ‘authorised signatory’ on behalf of your club/organisation. Forms will be sent to the central vetting unit and returned to Tennis Ireland, the process normally takes 8-10 weeks but can take longer for addresses outside of ROI. Applicants will not receive information back from Tennis Ireland or the vetting unit. A club/organisation will be informed of all information in relation to you. Using the information, your club/organisation will make the decision as to whether this information is relevant to your role within the organisation and you will be informed of any necessary information arising from this. The information will be shared with any relevant parties. If you wish to hear if you have completed the process you can email tara.congdon@tennisireland.ie after 12 weeks.
 
Common mistakes on forms:
• Date of Birth missing – form can’t be processed
• Addresses/information is illegible – if information can’t be read the form can’t be processed
• Self-declaration question at top of page 2 not completed – form won’t be processed
• Information in relation to all offences not given at top of page 2 – failure to state all offences is read as applicant not declaring truthfully all information to an organisation
• Declaration of applicant not signed on page 2 – permission not given by applicant to process the form
 
Please complete the form and return to Tennis Ireland, DCU, Glasnevin, Dublin 9. If you are applying for your club/organisation please state the club/organisation’s name in the box provided.
 
If you have any questions please contact  Tara Congdon on 01 8844010
 
If printing GV forms please print the 2 sheets back to back and be good to the environment – thank you!

 

 

 

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