A new law providing for discretionary naming of domestic violence offenders in a register of publicly accessible judgments is to be prepared following Government approval.
The legislation will allow for the naming in judgments of those convicted “on indictment”, in the Circuit Criminal Court, of domestic violence against a partner or former partner. The identification of offenders will be subject to judicial discretion and the victim’s consent.
It will be known as Jennie’s Law, named in honour of Jennifer Poole (24), who was murdered by her then partner, 30-year-old Gavin Murphy, in 2021.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said on Tuesday he secured Government approval for the drafting of the legislation, which “responds to a range of pressing challenges for the criminal justice system as we combat domestic, sexual and gender-based violence”.
RM Block
The general scheme of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences, Domestic Violence and International Instruments) Bill 2025 will establish a publicly accessible domestic violence register of judgments, to be published by the Courts Service.
The Minister said this register “will assist people who are in a relationship or considering a relationship with a person to ascertain whether they have a history of serious domestic violence convictions”.
Due to caseload pressures, published judgments are rare in Circuit Criminal Court cases but the new law will mean some judgments will be published in domestic violence cases.
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The Bill will also strengthen the law on sexual consent in providing that a person who says they believed another person had consented to sexual activity, this defence must be based on objective circumstances and not simply the accused’s subjective belief. This will apply to all types of sexual activity between adults.
The Bill also provides for bolstering existing legislation on preventing and combating human trafficking and replaces references to “child pornography” with “child sexual abuse material” in legislation and legal proceedings.
Dual criminality in respect of certain offences including forced marriage and female genital mutilation will be removed. Until now, if such offences were committed abroad by an Irish citizen, they could not be prosecuted here unless this behaviour was also a crime in the place where it occurred.
The general scheme will be referred to the Dáil’s Justice Committee for pre-legislative scrutiny and, when its report is received, work on finalising the Bill will be prioritised, the Minister said.
