THE Department of Justice was forced to pay out €200,000 to a woman who claimed she was the victim of a sexual assault by a garda.

The payout was made along with costs of €67,209 earlier this year after a formal complaint was made.

It is understood a serving member of the gardaí was accused of having sexually assaulted the woman but the attack is classified as "alleg­ed" despite the payout.

Neither gardaí nor the Department of Justice would provide further details on the assault or whether the officer involved had been suspended or charged.

The gardaí also had to pay out more than €13,000 to a man who lost out on a job with the force after being wrongly identified as a convicted criminal.

The payment came about after the Garda Vetting Unit accidentally said the individual had been convicted of a serious criminal offence.

The man – who has not been identified by either gardaí or the Department of Justice – had applied for the post as part of the recent recruitment drive to boost police manpower. All applicants are routinely given a security check to ensure they have never been convicted of any serious offence, which might present a risk. When the check was carried out, the man was identified as a criminal, garda sources said.

Documents obtained by the Sunday Tribune explain the payment as resulting from "a garda applicant whose security check was incorrect". A garda spokes­man said: "Cases like this would generally go into the hands of the Department of Justice and I would not be in a position to say anything about it."

A garda source said the mistake most likely arose because the applicant either shared a name or previous address with a convicted criminal. "When you are dealing with literally thousands of cases like this every month, mistakes are bound to happen. You could have two men of the same name living on the same street or a wrong spelling or wrong address recorded."

Although extra staff members have been allocated to the Garda Central Vetting Unit, reports of chronic delays and understaffing persist. The unit provides employ­ment vetting for dozens of organisations in Ireland, mainly those which employ personnel to work with children or vulnerable adults.

The procedure is also used for fostering and the Adoption Board and just 66 personnel are attached to the office, under the control of a garda inspector.

The Department of Justice said: "The current average timeframe for the processing of vetting applications is four weeks from the date of receipt unless further inquiries are necessary to ascertain the outcome of recent court cases.

"All organisations registered for garda vetting are aware processing times are established as being from the date of receipt of valid application forms at the Central Vetting Unit and have been advised to factor this into their recruitment process."

During the past three years for which full figures are available, the Department of Justice has had to pay out €22m in compensation arising from garda wrong-doing and negligence.