BY ALAN RODGERS

A.RODGERS@GAELICLIFE.COM

AROUND 13,000 coaches involved in the GAA in Ulster are to be vetted as part of a new agreement which the Association has reached with the organisation, Access NI.

Full-time staff at both county and provincial level have already gone through the process. But it is now being extended to cover all those involved in looking after youth teams or vulnerable adults.

Eugene Young, the GAA's Director of Coaching in Ulster, says volunteers at grassroots level have nothing to fear from what he says is the latest requirement to safeguard the needs of both players and coaches.

"Ultimately this is about protecting all the children and coaches that we have involved in our games. This has already been gone through with those working full-time, who have all been vetted by both the police and garda," he said.

"But it isn't about scaring people and I am confident that coaches will take the right message from this process. This is a system that people should engage in.

"What we have to realise is that something like this has to happen because we have to look after the young people who are in our care within GAA activities.

"Our volunteers will be aware of the issues in terms of the range of abuses that can take place. All those involved have to be tuned in as to how to prevent and address potential problems and this process is necessary in that regard," he added.

While the move is understandably generating some concern among clubs, it is also set to be welcomed as an important further step in providing protection.

AccessNI was established by a joint programme between a number of bodies. They include the Northern Ireland Office, Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, the Department of Education and the PSNI.

It is aimed at enabling organisations such as the GAA to make more informed recruitment decisions by providing criminal history information about anyone seeking paid or unpaid work in areas such as working with children or vulnerable adults.

All counties and clubs are now required to appoint a Children's Officer. It is expected to take sometime to ensure all 13,000 or so coaches are included and additional coaches will be included as they come on board each year.

Clubs are being urged by the Ulster Council to complete the forms and return them without delay to ensure that the process runs smoothly.

While the legal requirement for vetting has been in place since earlier this decade, Access NI have only taken over responsibility for it since the beginning of last month.

The first batch of application forms from the GAA was forwarded to them earlier this week.

Although it is obviously hoped that the process will go according to plan, the required steps on anyone deemed unsuitable as a result of the process will be taken through the appropriate channels.

In addition, there is no cost to the GAA for the vetting of volunteers.