Perpetrators of domestic violence will be named on a new register run by the courts, under a law being introduced by the Government.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan is introducing a law which would allow judgments against those prosecuted for offences relating to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence to be published on a publicly available list.
While the law will say that the court retains the “discretion” to decide if a judgment against an abuser should be included on the list, the victim will also need to give their consent before an abuser is named on the register.
The courts will have the power to decide to include “information within the judgment as it deems necessary”.
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After three years, anyone named on the new domestic violence register will have the right to apply to be removed from it. If someone does apply to be taken off the register, the court will consider whether they have committed any other offences, what the wishes of the victim are, and any efforts the person has made to rehabilitate themselves.
The law will also give An Garda Síochána the power to tell schools when a domestic violence incident has taken place in a child’s home. Under the Government’s plan, “the child’s teacher will be made aware of the situation and can provide support accordingly”.
A commitment to create a new domestic violence register was included in Fianna Fáil’s 2024 general election manifesto but did not make it into the Programme for Government. But on being appointed earlier this year, Minister O’Callaghan said he was still committed to the scheme. Mr O’Callaghan had said he hoped to name the scheme Jennie’s Law in memory of Jennifer Poole, who was murdered by her ex-partner.
Ms Poole was a 24-year-old mother of two who was murdered by her former partner, Gavin Murphy, in 2021.
Ms Poole did not know that Murphy had a history of abusive behaviour, including a conviction for assaulting a former partner. Her family, who have led a campaign for a domestic violence register in her honour, maintain she might still be alive if she had known about Murphy’s history.
The Poole family have been campaigning for such a register for the last four years.
Helen McEntee, the former justice minister in the last government, had been advised by officials that a domestic violence disclosure scheme could expose women and girls to an “unacceptable” risk of further violence and abuse.
But speaking in the Dáil earlier this year, Mr O’Callaghan said he did not “see anything controversial or incompatible with the rights of the individual in this proposal here”.
“It is unquestionably the case that if people are convicted of serious criminal convictions, that can be publicised most nights of the week on our news. In our papers we read about individuals who are convicted of serious offences,” he said.
“However, it appears to be the case that that’s done on a very arbitrary basis. And it can be the case that individuals are convicted of serious offences, but people don’t get to hear about him because of the fact that there was no journalist in court at the time.
“We also need to reflect, when we’re discussing this issue, upon the fact that justice in Ireland is required to be administered in public.
“If a person is convicted of a serious criminal offence in Ireland before the courts, that is a public conviction, and the public are entitled to know about that conviction.”
