Introduction

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In line with the GAA Code of Behaviour (Underage) and the recruitment and selection of persons to work with children the following applies and accordance with the Law and Association policy, any volunteer in the GAA intending to work with children, must have completed the below relevant requirements.

 

Volunteers include coaches, mentors, supervisors, coaching assistants, appropriate club committee members & volunteers, facility staff and those organising underage activities (including camps, trips & social events) or refereeing underage games.

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1) Garda vetted through the Foireann website. (Valid for 3 Years)(Everyone)

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2) Attend a child safeguarding workshop (Child Safeguarding Level 1) (Valid for 3 Years)(Everyone)

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3) Complete the Introduction to Gaelic Games coaching course (coaches only)

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It is a legal requirement that Garda Vetting must be obtained before taking up any of the above roles and training courses must be in place before taking up a role working with children at the club. As defined in the Code of Behaviour (Underage) and the Children First Act (2015), a child is any person under the age of 18 years. This includes children under the age of 18 years who may play on minor or senior teams. If you have been Garda vetted for any other position outside of the GAA it is not valid for the purpose of the above roles and you must apply for specific Garda vetting for the GAA as per below

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How to apply for Garda Vetting

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As of April 4th, 2022, the GAA have changed the Garda Vetting process meaning all Vetting applications must now be done through the GAA Foireann platform.

You will find further information and details as well as the latest process on the GAA website at https://www.gaa.ie/the-gaa/child-safeguarding-and-protection/vetting

 

To complete the Garda vetting process, please follow the following steps:

*It is recommended to use the Chrome browser on your laptop/desktop

How to apply for Vetting in the Gaelic Games Association

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Step 1 Logging in to Foireann

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Log into your account on Foireann or create an account on Foireann www.foireann.ie

(Foireann is the digital platform you used for completing COVID Health Questionnaires so most people will already have an account)

Click on hyperlink for step by step guidance on how to apply for vetting on Foireann.

(Detail info as per below also)

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Step 2 Gaelic Games Vetting Invitation Form

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Once logged into your account on Foireann please click on the Qualifications and Vetting tab and then click Apply to be Vetted. Please ensure your current details on your profile are correct - and most importantly, your date of birth. Please then select your Club and or Association you wish to be vetted for and the role you are being vetted for (e.g. Coaching / mentoring children under the age of 18yrs).

Upload a copy or screenshot of your Photo ID (passport or drivers’ licence) and a proof of your current address in the form of a Utility Bill (no more than 6 months old). You are also required to print and sign the Gaelic Game Vetting ID Validation Form and upload this a part of your vetting application. The full list of documents which are accepted for verification can be found here. You must include all 4 pages of the Validation form ticking the boxes of the documentation you are including ( adding up to 100)

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When you have uploaded the correct documents, and submitted your application, the Club Children’s Officer will then check your ID Documentation and your signed Gaelic Games Vetting ID Validation Form. If the documents are correct your application will be validated by the Club Children’s Officer and submitted to the GAA. If the documents are not correct the Club Children’s Officer will reject your application and you will be required to upload the correct documentation.

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Step 3 Completing the National Vetting Bureau (NVB) EVetting Application form

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Once you complete the Gaelic Games Invitation Form the information provided is forwarded to the NVB by the GAA and you will receive an on-line NVB Vetting Form to complete. The NVB will issue you with the NVB Vetting Application form. This will be issued to the email address you provided in your Gaelic Games Invitation Form. Completing this form is a confidential matter between you and the NVB. All sections of the form including current and previous addresses, email address and contact telephone numbers, information on convictions and prosecutions (if any), plus other information will be required when completing the form. Once all sections of the form have been answered this then completes your application process for EVetting in the GAA and within a short period of time you shall be contacted by the GAA to informing you as to the outcome of the vetting application and approved vetting information will be attached to your Foireann profile

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Vetting of applicants under 18 yrs. of age

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GAA vetting services are available to any person over 16 yrs. of age and under 18 yrs. of age who fulfil a role of responsibility when working with children or vulnerable adults in the GAA. A parental consent form (NVB Parent/Guardian Consent Form) must be completed for applicants between 16 and 18 yrs. of age and the form must be uploaded and forwarded to the GAA as part of the application process. The applicant must also use the email address of the parent/guardian when making the application

 

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WHAT DOCUMENTS DO I NEED TO UPLOAD FOR MY VETTING APPLICATION:

 
To submit your vetting application you need to upload three different documents:
 

1. ID Validation Form which is attached to this email. This form must be downloaded, filled out and re-uploaded to your vetting application under the section 'ID VALIDATION FORM'

2. Identification Document. This must be a Passport, Driver's License i.e any photographic document. This must be uploaded under the section 'SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS'

3. Proof of Address. This must be separate from your Driver's License and must have your name and address clearly stated. This can be a bank statement, utility bill etc. This must be uploaded under the section 'SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS'

 
If you are submitting an application on behalf of a child then there is an additional 'Parental Consent Form' which is required to be uploaded. 
 
Important things to note regarding these documents. 
 

• Documents must be less than 5MB, in colour and visibly clear. 

• If you are having issues with the sizes of your documents, then please use one of the compression websites to reduce the size of your files. 

  • https://compresspng.com/

 

I HAVE UPLOADED MY DOCUMENTS BUT CAN NOT SUBMIT THE VETTING APPLICATION:

 
Please note that if you have uploaded all of the relevant documentation, then it's likely that you haven't uploaded the documents in the correct sections or have not uploaded enough documents to proceed with the application. 
 
Please note that there should be a minimum of three documents uploaded to an application
 

• The ID Validation Form (See attached) is listed under the ID Validation Form section

• ID Document listed under the Supporting Documents section.

• Proof of Address is under the Support Documents section. 

 
If you have uploaded both of your supporting documents within the same file then you need to split these out into two separate uploads. 
 

I AM UNABLE TO UPLOAD DOCUMENTS FOR MY VETTING APPLICATION:

 
If you are unable to upload your vetting documents, can you please try the following:
 

1. If using a mobile phone, can you attempt to upload the documents via a Laptop/Tablet device? 

2. If you are getting an error message and cannot access the vetting application, can you please clear your cache on the device you are using? Please see here for tips on how to do this: https://uk.pcmag.com/browsers/41051/how-to-clear-your-cache-on-any-browser

 
If you have tried all of the above and are still unable to upload your documents for your vetting application then please reply back to this email with the relevant documents i.e ID Validation Form, ID and Proof of Address. Once this is sent through a member of our support team can upload the documents on your behalf. You can then review the documents and once happy submit your vetting application form. 
 

I HAVE SUBMITTED MY VETTING APPLICATION BUT HAVEN'T HEARD BACK / WANT TO KNOW THE PROCESS OF MY APPLICATION. 

 
If you have not yet heard back in regards to your vetting application then it's advised that you contact your club's children officer to make sure they have received and validated the application. If they have, then you will need to contact the Associations as outlined below for information on your application. 
 
Camogie            gardavetting@camogie.ie
GAA                    evetting@gaa.ie
LGFA                   vetting@lgfa.ie
 

MY VETTING APPLICATION KEEPS BEING REJECTED - WHY?

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Unfortunately, our support team do not have visibility of where an application is within the process nor the ability to advise why it was rejected. When an application is rejected, you should be informed in the email as to why it was rejected. Please contact your club's children's officer and/or the National Children's Officer for further information:
 
Camogie            gardavetting@camogie.ie
GAA                    evetting@gaa.ie
LGFA                   vetting@lgfa.ie

 

 

MY VETTING APPLICATION IS NOT LISTED IN MY PROFILE - WHY?

 
In November 2022, a project was undertaken to match those that were previously vetted from January 2020 up to April 2022 to the Gaelic Games' new vetting system on Foireann. In order to ensure that each Association matched the correct vetting with the correct individual on Foireann a number of key identifiers were used. These were 

• Name

• DOB

• Current address

• Email address 

• Club 

 
Each of the Gaelic Games Associations has to ensure that the legacy vetting information was accurate to update a member’s vetting record on Foireann. If the individual had no account on Foireann, the individual could also not be matched. 
 
Unfortunately, it was not possible to match every previous vetting applicant that was vetted via the previous vetting system from January 2020 to April 2022 onto Foireann. This is for various reasons such as the applicant used a different email, a different address or an incorrect DOB on the old system or these details have since changed on their current Foireann profile.

Therefore, your previous application within the last three years could not be matched on Foireann. The Club now requests you to re-apply to be vetted on Foireann and this will attach all your vetting status to your profile on Foireann and also trigger expiry notifications etc.This will also allow the club keep accurate records as required by our the relevant governing bodies
 
You can contact your Association for further information on to discuss this further:

Camogie            gardavetting@camogie.ie
GAA                    evetting@gaa.ie
LGFA                   vetting@lgfa.ie
 

I CAN NOT APPLY FOR VETTING FOR MY CHILD:

 
If your child is under the age of 18, then the parent/guardian must submit the application on their behalf. The main profile on Foireann must be in the parent/guardian's name and the child must be added via the family section. If you do not believe your family is set up correctly, please contact your club and an administrator should be able to help you sort this out. If not, please let our support team know and we can fix your family setup. 
 
Once added to your family, if you navigate to the Family section, click Edit beside their profile then click on the Qualifications & Vetting tab, you should be able to submit an application on their behalf. For more information on this, please see the following help guide: Submitting an application for yourself or on behalf of a child
 
If your child is over the age of 18, then they must submit an application via their own Foireann profile. This cannot be done by the parent/guardian. The best thing to do here is to ask your club administrator to invite your child (18 +) to create their own Foireann profile, once they have logged in, they can follow the steps in the link above to submit their own application. 
 

Common issues with vetting applications:

 

Below is a list of some of the common issues members face when submitting vetting applications:

 

Not uploading all three of the required documents (photo ID, proof of address, and completed signed vetting ID verification form) - the application will be rejected

Not adding a date of birth to your Foireann profile - this will block the vetting page from being shown in Foireann

Not updating date of birth on Foireann profile - if the Foireann DOB does not match the DOB on photo IDs, the application is rejected

Not completing the NVB EVetting Form - Once the email from the NVB has been received, there is a time limit of 30 days to complete this after which the application will be cancelled and must be restarted

Not including a proof of address - the requirements are outlined in the links above, but please not that a drivers lisence is not accepted as proof of address. The application will be rejected if not valid proof of address wihtin the last 6 months is provided.

Not able to access Foireann account - please contact the Children's Officer if you are struggling to reset your password or access your Foireann Account

Not receiving e-mail reminders - check your span/junk folders and add childrensofficer.fingalravens.dublin@gaa.ie to your 'safe senders' list. E-mail reminders will also come from Foireann (noreply@gaa.ie). 

Not being familiar with vetting and safeguarding requirements - check out the vetting and child welfare pages on the Fingal Ravens GAA website.

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If all else fails - contact the Children's Officer who is here to help

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Childrens Officer: Nessa Barry

Mobile : 086 6023775

Email: childrensofficer.fingalravens.dublin@gaa.ie

GAA Website - https://www.gaa.ie/the-gaa/child-safeguarding-and-protection/vetting

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Safeguarding and GAA Introduction to Gaelic Games courses will be organised by the club throughout the year as required and coaching staff and relevant personnel will be kept informed

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