New legislation which makes it compulsory for security guards and doormen to wear identity badges while working is to come into force at the beginning of next month.
The move comes as new figures show that there are now close to 25,000 individuals licensed to work as door supervisors and guards in the Republic.
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern today signed the Private Security (Identity Badge) Regulations 2009, which makes it mandatory for all licensed bouncers and security employees to wear one of two types of ID badges while on duty from September 1st.
Under the new rules, employees can either wear their existing licence card as a badge or may use one which has been supplied by their employer so long as it complies with guidelines set out by the Private Security Authority (PSA), the statutory body with responsibility for licensing and regulating the private security sector in Ireland.
Store detectives, whose duties require them not to be immediately identifiable to the public, are exempt from wearing badges. However, they are required to carry their licence with them at all times.
Licensing of doormen and security guards began in April 2007 and to date over 31,800 applications for licences have been made with 24,884 licences granted. A total of 5,733 applications were rejected by the PSA.
All applicants for licences are vetted by the Garda before any licence is issued and any applicants from outside of Ireland must provide a criminal record certificate from their country of origin.
According to the PSA, licenses have been approved to individuals from 115 different nationalities. With two-thirds of all licences issued going to Irish nationals.
More than 17,000 licences have been to individuals working as security guards with 6,122 issued for doormen employed in shops, bars and nightclubs.
Some 96 per cent of licence holders are male and the average age of licence holders is 39 years of age.
Under the new legislation coming into force next week, an individual's licence can be suspended or revoked if they fail to wear their ID badge and they face fines of up to €3,000 or imprisonment for up to 12 months or both.
The PSA said it will be carrying out inspections to ensure that the new legislation is strictly adhered too. All identity badges worn must be clearly visible at all times and has to display both a photograph and licence number of the wearer together with the authority's logo.
"The new legislation will give added confidence to the public to see that people are properly licensed because this means that they have been trained to a certain standard and vetted. It also means that if someone has an issue with a member of the profession they can easily identify them which will help if they want to proceed with a complaint," said Paul Scallon, head of licensing with the PSA.
Mr Scallon said that the compliance rate for licensing in the sector has risen by 30 per cent over the past year and currently stands at 80 per cent, which he attributed in part to the introduction of identity badges.
He added that standards in the industry have "greatly improved" since the authority was established in 2004.
