Domestic Violence Judgments Register Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-25
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Laura Harmon (LAB), Industrial and Commercial Panel

I move amendment No. 10:
In page 5, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following:
"(10A) A person who believes that information contained in a judgment included in the Register is liable incorrectly to identify him or her as a convicted person may apply to the court which ordered the inclusion of the judgement in the Register for a determination under subsection (10C).
(10B) On receipt of an application under subsection (10A), the Courts Service shall—
(a) annotate the relevant judgment on the Register forthwith to indicate that an application under subsection (10A) is under consideration,
(b) notify the court which made the order for inclusion of the judgment in the Register, and
(c) refer the matter to that court for determination.
(10C) On an application under subsection (10A), the court may make one or more of the following orders—
(a) an order that the judgment be annotated in such terms as it considers appropriate;
(b) an order that the judgment be temporarily removed from the Register pending such further steps as the court may specify;
(c) if satisfied that the judgment is liable incorrectly to identify the applicant as the convicted person, an order directing the permanent removal of the judgment from the Register or directing such amendment to the information in the judgment as it thinks fit.
(10D) An application under subsection (10A) shall not affect the entitlement of the convicted person to apply for removal of the judgment from the Register under subsection (9).".
I welcome the previous comment from the Minister that he will keep the legislation under review, particularly regarding the previous amendments tabled by the Labour Party, namely amendments Nos. 3 and 4, which were rejected. It is important that this register be kept under review in relation to the information provided on how it will work in practice.
We are very supportive of this Bill as a whole. Amendment No. 10 is a simple one that we believe amounts to a common-sense fix to the risk of any misidentification. It provides a mechanism by which a person who believes he or she is being misidentified may apply to the Courts Service for annotation or temporary removal of the judgment. On receiving such an application from a person who believes he or she is at risk of being misidentified as a domestic abuser, the judgment would be annotated to say that an application is under consideration. This would provide some mitigation in the case of misidentification in the interim. The matter would then be considered by the court that made the initial order for inclusion on the register. Having considered the application, it could then annotate the judgment as it considers appropriate or temporarily remove the judgment from the register.
We believe an open register like this, while absolutely welcome and needed, carries risks that need to be mitigated. There needs to be a process such as the one we are advocating in the legislation to take account of any risk of misidentification and spell out how a person could go about fixing the problem if he or she were to find himself or herself in that unfortunate position. We really need to consider this risk as part of the legislation. At the same time, we absolutely welcome this substantive legislation. It has been a long time coming and people deserve to know about this matter and to have transparency in relation to it. It particularly affects women, so the proposed measure is absolutely needed. I hope the Minister will consider this amendment.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-25