Challenge brought over Garda refusal to allow school meals provider vet own workers

A company that provides hot cooked meals for school children has brought a High Court challenge against An Garda Síochána’s refusal to include the firm on a list of entities entitled to vet its own workers.

The action has been brought by School Food 4 Primary Ltd, which claims that it has applied to An Garda Síochána, via the Garda National Vetting Bureau, for inclusion on the register of relevant organisations allowed to vet their own employees.

The company, which prepares and cooks its food on-site at schools, says its application has been refused by the bureau on grounds which it claims are not legally coherent or comprehensible. It claims that the Garda interpretation of the vetting process is that the individual schools where the firm’s employees prepare the meals should vet the company’s employees.

The firm, which alongside its sister company employs more than 300 people, says this refusal is causing it practical difficulties and has left it in a situation that is “unworkable”. It claims that if one of its workers does not pass the school’s vetting process, then that person cannot be employed by the firm.

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The company says that in such a scenario, it cannot tell the person why they cannot be employed by it, nor is the company informed of the reasons why that individual has not passed the vetting process.

The company, with a registered address in Co Limerick, says it has no legal entitlement to the information, or to tell the employee themselves, which triggered the red flag in the vetting process. The company says that it recently had to deal with this situation with somebody it had hired.

While the firm says it does not want to replace the school’s ability to vet those working on their premises, it says that no employer or employee can tolerate the current situation, particularly as those working at schools need to be vetted and re-vetted at regular intervals.

It wants to grow its business and employ a further 200 people in the next five years. The Government’s Hot School Meals Programme is expanding, with €68 million allocated to that scheme in 2022, the firm claims.

Register of relevant organisations

In judicial review proceedings against the Garda Commissioner, the company says it wants the commissioner to deem it a “relevant organisation” under the 2012 National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act.

The company, represented by Stephen Walsh, seeks various orders and declarations including an order directing the commissioner to enter the firm on the register of relevant organisations.

The firm argues that on a proper interpretation of the 2012 Act, it is entitled to be included on the register of relevant organisations and thus would be able to vet its own employees. It also claims that the Garda interpretation of the Act is wrong.

The matter came before Ms Justice Niamh Hyland, who on an ex-parte basis, granted the company permission to bring its action. The matter will return before the courts in October.