Domestic Violence Judgments Register Bill 2026 [Seanad]: Committee Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-15
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

I thank Deputies Carthy and Gannon for their amendments. Deputy Gannon's amendment seeks to cover a situation where the victim is deceased, so it is either a case of murder or manslaughter. In that instance, the provision as it is at present, in subsection (4), states, "In relation to subsection (2)(d), where the victim is deceased, it shall be at the discretion of the court as to whether a judgment is to be included in the Register." When it comes to a court case where somebody has been convicted of murder or manslaughter, obviously there will be an opportunity for a victim impact statement for the family members. Family will always be able to express their view. However, putting specifically into statute, as Deputy Gannon has suggested, that there has to be consultation with the family of the victim is difficult from the point of view of a court. The court is the one that is exercising its discretion as to whether the judgment should be published. Deputy Gannon's amendment states, "the court shall, after consultation with the family". It is unusual in legislation to talk about a court having consultation with the family. I know the purpose of it but there is a mechanism for the family to be heard. I think it would be inappropriate to include that in the Bill. As well as that, families are not always unified in their approach to a particular issue. We need to be much more specific in respect of what "family" means. Where the family of a deceased victim has views on whether a judgment should be included in the register, attention will of course be paid to those views by the judge, and that is something that the judge will be able to consider.
I now turn to Deputy Carthy's amendments Nos. 2 and 4. These relate to the victim's consent, ensuring that it is freely and voluntarily given. They specify that the court must be satisfied that the victim has been provided with sufficient information and access to appropriate supports, including from specialist domestic violence services, to enable them to make that decision. I am not going to accept these amendments either. We all agree that specialist domestic violence services are indispensable, and they are available. Colleagues will be aware that I provide a huge amount of funding to Cuan, which in turn provides it to those agencies. It is important to point out that these organisations make a valuable contribution. However, that recognition does not mean that every aspect of their work should be written into legislation. The amendments proposed raise significant practical concerns. It is simply not clear how a court could determine whether a victim had received "sufficient information and access to appropriate supports", nor is there an objective standard for what constitutes informed and safe decision-making. I understand the intentions but I think the language is too vague and subjective and would create uncertainty rather than the clarity that we all want.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-15