According to the Minister of Justice and Equality (Deputy Frances Fitzgerald) the Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures Act, 2016 is due to be transposed into Irish legislation in April/May 2016 on such day or days as the Minister may appoint.
The scope of the Act is to deem which convictions individuals are required to disclose to potential or current employers. Apart from some exemptions to the Act, individuals will not be required to inform employers of certain convictions provided that the timeframe to disclose these convictions will be spent or expired.
This may challenge the recruitment processes of many organisations where disclosing a previous conviction is a key question to ascertain an individual’s suitability for a role. Currently, HR policies and procedures have allowed employers to reprimand or dismiss an employee for failing to disclose a previous conviction. However, the Spent Convictions Act provides protection to the employee if they do not disclose a conviction due to it being spent or if they do not deem the conviction to be relevant to the role they are applying for.
Key considerations to note from the Act are as follows:
- A conviction is deemed to be spent when: A person aged 18 years or older, had a conviction that was at least 7 years ago.
- The Act considers this for one conviction only. If they have more than one conviction (all unrelated) then those other convictions will not be deemed spent.
- A conviction cannot be deemed ‘spent’ where it relates to a sexual offence, or where the conviction was issued by the Central Criminal Court, or where the employee’s prison sentence was for 12 months or more.”
- An individual who is convicted of a sexual offence in the Central Criminal Court cannot treat that offence as spent.
- Convictions for Motoring offences in the District Court will be spent after at least 7 years, given that it was a single conviction.
- Convictions for minor public order offences tried in the District Court which are more than 7 years old will be spent.
‘Relevant Work’ and ‘Specified Work’:
According to Section 6(1) (c). of the Spent Convictions Act, a disclosure of a conviction is required when an individual is applying for “specified work” i.e. for State Bodies such as the Gardaí and Financial Regulation.
Similarly in Section 6. (2) (a). if an individual is applying for “relevant work” i.e. being in contact with or having access to children and vulnerable adults, the spent conviction must be disclosed.
Individuals engaged in relevant work are required to be Garda Vetted in line with the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Adults) Act 2012.
Employers are strongly advised to seek advice if they feel they are faced with an issue regarding the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures) or if you have any queries in respect of the above article then please contact our 24 Hour Advice Service on 01 855 50 50.
