Garda Vetting

Important – New Garda Vetting Procedure Update

from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

There are important changes to the Garda Vetting procedure for the Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Aged Childcare (SAC) sector.

The new Garda Vetting system has been designed to strengthen and streamline compliance processes to improve efficiencies for everyone. The updates will affect how employers, childminders, and employees apply for or renew their Garda Vetting applications.

Our priority is to safeguard children, keeping them safe in all settings throughout Ireland.

Starting from 1st February 2025, the following changes will take effect:

Early Childhood Ireland (ECI) will manage Garda Vetting services for all early learning and care, and school-age childcare employees.
Tusla will manage Garda Vetting services for registered providers including Chairpersons of Boards of Management.
As part of these changes, Barnardos will no longer provide vetting services.

We are committed to supporting you throughout this period of change. It is vital that you remain compliant with vetting requirements at all times.

If your current provider is Barnardos and you have employees you will be required to apply for a new Garda Vetting Affiliate Number for Early Childhood Ireland. We recommend that you take a proactive approach in transferring to your new provider to be ready for the 1st February 2025 commencement date and in advance of when you might next need garda vetting services. Please contact the Garda National Vetting Bureau (GNBV) at [email protected] to progress your Affiliate Number application to ensure you have your new number to process submissions through Early Childhood Ireland.

The process of obtaining a new affiliate number can take several weeks and you will have no access to Garda vetting services during this period. It is therefore important to note that you should only instigate a change in affiliate number when you have no vetting applications in progress and do not anticipate you will need vetting. If a service expects to need vetting between now and 31st January you should wait until after completing your upcoming vetting to proceed with changing affiliate number. It is ok to instigate a change in affiliate number after 31st January.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to your current provider or contact your local City or County Childcare Committee. Further details and guidance will follow in the coming weeks, including separate information in relation to Garda vetting for childminders.

Thank you for your cooperation as we work together to implement these new procedures.

Barnardos Closure Information

Please note that Barnardos cannot accept or process any applications for vetting after 31st January 2025.

Barnardos Vetting Service will be closing after this date.

Any applications submitted after this date will be returned unprocessed.

Any applications submitted during January 2025 which require corrections may be returned unprocessed due to the closing deadline of 31st January 2025.

Thank you,

The Team at the Barnardos Vetting Service.

Under the National Vetting Bureau (Children & Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012-2016 all people undertaking relevant work with children or vulnerable adults need to be vetted by the Garda National Vetting Bureau.

We can process Garda Vetting applications for relevant services.

There is no fee for this service.

Early Years Services

Every early years service must obtain their own unique Garda National Vetting Bureau (GNVB) Affiliate Registration Number. This number is part of the process to confirm good governance and compliance with the National Vetting Bureau (Children & Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012-2016 to ensure that only persons conducting relevant work or activities with children or vulnerable adults are legally vetted under the Act.

Any service wishing to apply for Garda vetting for their staff must contact the Garda National Vetting Bureau in the first instance to establish if they are undertaking relevant work and once that is confirmed they will receive this unique number.

How to apply

1. Email the GNVB at [email protected] requesting a GNVB Affiliate Registration Number and giving the following information:

Name and Service Address
Contact Person within the organisation
Nature of business, e.g. early learning and care

2. The GNVB will send you an application form to complete and post back to them. Once you have sent them the completed form, they will issue you with your GNVB Affiliate Registration Number by letter.

3. When you receive your reference number contact Barnardos and we will let you know the next steps to apply for vetting.

SELF – EMPLOYED CHILDMINDERS SHOULD CONTACT US DIRECTLY AND DO NOT NEED A GNVB REFERENCE NUMBER.

What is the vetting process?

Group/ service contacts the GNVB to apply for a reference number.
Once reference number is received from GNVB — Group / service contacts us – and we will send Information Pack and application form.
All Barnardos documentation, application forms and proof of GNVB reference to be posted to the Barnardos’ Vetting Service.
Applicant receives a link via email to complete their application online.
We review the completed application and submit to the GNVB for processing.
GNVB completes vetting checks and issue result on e-vetting system to the Barnardos’ Vetting Service.
We print and post the result to the service who submitted the request.

How long does vetting take?

Currently the processing time is around 2-3 weeks.

Reasons for delays

Missing paperwork missing or forms that are filled in incorrectly
Applicant does not complete online application and it expires as the email address given is wrong

How to avoid delay

Read the information pack provided carefully
Use the checklist in the pack each time you forward a request for vetting
Ensure email address is legible and correct

The applicant can track the progress of their application at every stage of the process.

Therefore, once the process is started, organisations are advised to keep in touch with the applicant to ensure that they have received an email from the NVB and they complete the online application without delay.

Advice to applicants

The National Vetting Bureau and Barnardos do not deal directly with applicants for vetting.
Applicants with queries about the process should contact the service that has requested them to complete the Garda Vetting process.
Make sure your email address is legible and correct. If you have included numbers make sure they are clearly distinguishable from letters, e.g. the number zero (0) can easily be read as the letter O.
When completing the invitation form you must put a tick in the box beside your signature and you must include the date you signed the form. (Common mistakes include entering your year of birth beside your signature rather than the current year.).
When logging into the e-vetting system make sure you do not put a space at the end of your email address as this will give an “invalid email address” message.

If you have any queries when completing the online form, there is a user guide provided by the National Vetting Bureau on their website.

Contact Barnardos’ Vetting Service

Blackmore House, Meade Street, Cork

(021) 4547060 (9.30-1.00 pm & 2.00-4.30 pm) [email protected]