Delay with chef’s Garda vetting results in High Court hearing

The chef manager of a nursing home stands to lose the job to which he was appointed six weeks ago because gardaí have failed to complete vetting procedures as to his suitability, the High Court was told on Thursday.

Mr Justice Henry Abbott heard that the man, who cannot be identified by court order, had been suspended and his pay stopped because of Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) requirements that no member of staff can work in a nursing home without Garda clearance.

Micheal O'Higgins SC said his client had submitted his vetting application to the National Vetting Bureau of the Garda Síochána but had been told it could take months to complete.

Mr O’Higgins told the court the nursing home had started to take in residents within the past fortnight and the home management had told his client it was company policy and a strict requirement of Hiqa that he had to have Garda vetting clearance prior to taking up his duties.

He had been told that his employment was subject to a satisfactory Garda clearance check and that while it was unfortunate that a clearance certificate had been delayed, the home had to adhere to the policies and Hiqa guidelines.

Tony Collier, solicitor for the chef, stated in an affidavit that he had been informed his client had been kept on extended paid leave but this would not continue indefinitely. His remuneration had been discontinued a fortnight ago and his position was now precarious.

Mr O’Higgins was granted leave by Judge Abbott to apply for a judicial review seeking to compel the Garda Commissioner and the chief officer at the National Vetting Bureau to process his client’s application for vetting disclosure to the nursing home management. He said he would also be looking for a declaration that the delay constitutes an interference with his client’s right to earn a livelihood and his right to the vindication of his good name.

Mr O’Higgins said the chef had been Garda vetted in 2009 on behalf of another nursing home operator for whom he had worked until 2015. He told the court that the chef had been questioned by the gardaí in or around June 2015 in respect of an allegation of historical criminal conduct between 1978 and 1982 but this had not resulted in any charges against him.

In an application for a court order imposing reporting restrictions Mr O’Higgins said that in the interests of justice the applicant’s name should be anonymised so as not to present an undue impediment to his exercising his constitutional right of access to the courts.

Judge Abbott made the order and returned the proceedings to September 14th.