Irish(RoI) Criminal/Civil Records Search

Under the Data Protection Act 1988 in the Republic of Ireland an individual is entitled to obtain a copy of any criminal record information held on them by the Garda Síochána (the police force of the Republic of Ireland), subject to certain exemptions.  A request made to the Garda under the Data Protection Act must be made in writing to the address below:

 

The Central vetting Unit can also be contacted by telephone on             00353-50427300        or by Fax 00353-50427373

 

The written application must make clear that the request for information is being made under section 4 of the Data Protection Act 1988 and that you require all the information that may be held about you on computer.

You must also supply the following personal details:

 

 

A request for information under the Act carries a fee. Payment which must be in the form of a cheque, postal order or bank draft should be made payable to ‘The Accountant, Department of Justice’ and sent with the written letter of application. Cash should not be forwarded with applications. Payments in foreign currency, foreign cheques or foreign postal orders will not be accepted.

 

Information given under section 4 of the Irish Data Protection Act 1988 detail all convictions recorded against an individual, regardless of the time that may have lapsed since it was recorded. A typical entry will list the venue of any court hearing, the nature of the offence and the conviction/sentence details.

 

The document produced in response to a request under section 4 has no security features (i.e. no watermarks, etc), as it will simply list any convictions on regular paper (or state that no criminal record information is held on the named individual).

 

Once you have made your request, and paid any appropriate fee, an individual can expect to receive a copy of his or her record within 40 days.