Garda vetting in Ireland carries no national expiry date. Citizens Information, the state’s public guidance service, says you do not currently need to be vetted again unless you change jobs, or change roles within a sports or community group. The catch is that the organisation you work for can set its own limit, and some set three years.
more
What the law actually requires
Vetting rests on two National Vetting Bureau Acts, passed in 2012 and 2016, covering children and vulnerable persons. An Garda Síochána describes them as the legal basis for mandatory vetting of anyone who wants to work with, or provide services to, children or vulnerable people. The Oireachtas amended the 2012 Act in January 2016, mainly so that certain old minor convictions would stop appearing in vetting disclosures.
The vetting is done by the National Vetting Bureau, which was known as the Garda Central Vetting Unit until the Acts took effect. It vets you for an organisation, not for yourself. Citizens Information notes that vetting is not done on a personal basis, and a self-employed person can only apply through a relevant organisation.
What a disclosure contains
A disclosure lists any convictions and any pending prosecutions. It also carries either a statement of specified information, meaning anything that gives a genuine belief you are a danger to children or vulnerable adults, or a statement that there is none. Certain minor District Court offences more than seven years old are left out, with exceptions set in the Acts.
Why “valid” depends on who is asking
That link to an organisation is why the answer shifts. A disclosure goes to the liaison person at the body that requested it, and that body then sends you a copy. Change jobs and the new employer needs its own.
Some employers put a clock on it. The University of Limerick tells its staff that its current re-vetting period is three years. Barnardos, which ran a vetting service for childcare providers until it closed on 31 January 2025, told providers that vetting dated within the last three years stayed valid unless their employment status had changed.
Education brings its own trigger. Trinity College Dublin requires vetting for students on courses involving relevant work with children or vulnerable adults, from medicine and nursing to social work. A student coming back from time “off books” has to be vetted again, and nobody can attend a placement until their clearance has arrived.
How long the check itself takes
The other sense of “how long” is the wait. An Garda Síochána says its eVetting system turns round 80% of applications within 14 days. Applicants can track progress online and see when their application goes back to the organisation.
To use eVetting you need a valid email address, and you must complete a proof of identity process first. Paper applications are still accepted. Anyone aged 16 to 18 also needs a signed parent or guardian consent form. Trinity asks anyone who has lived outside Ireland for more than six months since turning 18 for a police clearance certificate as part of the application.
What happens to the old disclosure
A disclosure does not sit on file forever. Citizens Information says organisations should delete disclosures a year after receiving them, except in exceptional cases. They may keep the reference number and date.
The rules may yet tighten. Citizens Information reports that the Government is reviewing the vetting system to strengthen the process around re-vetting. Until that review lands, the practical test is to ask the organisation you are joining what age of disclosure it accepts.
