Domestic Violence Judgments Register Bill 2026 [Seanad]: Committee Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-15
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Matt Carthy (SF), Cavan-Monaghan

I move amendment No. 5:
In page 4, line 33, to delete “3 years” and substitute “5 years”.
All of these amendments are linked and are the critical amendments that we will be discussing this evening. Amendments Nos. 5, 6 and 7 are fairly simple in their wording. They are to substitute the words "5 years" where "3 years" is currently in place. Amendment No. 8 inserts the following section 9A on page 5:
Notwithstanding subsection (9), the court may, in making an order under subsection (2), specify that a longer period shall apply before an application for removal may be made, having regard to—
(a) the nature and seriousness of the offence, and
(b) the need to protect the safety and wellbeing of the victim and, where relevant, any children or dependents.".
Amendment No. 8 is the second option for the Minister if he is of a mind to reject amendments Nos. 5, 6 and 7. Bearing in mind that, as a result of the Government's position on the previous amendments, the bar to be included on this register is incredibly high under the Bill as it stands, somebody who is on the register that we are discussing has committed offences of a very serious nature. For all of the reasons I outlined earlier, I believe that the vast majority of abusers will never see their names published on this register. Therefore, to have such a high bar and then to allow a three-year mechanism whereby a person who has reached that bar and ended up on the register can apply to have his or her name removed from it is far too short. When you consider that, to be on the register, the crimes are way beyond what any reasonable person would want any of their loved ones to be exposed to in a relationship, certainly without them knowing.
The key part of this is that being included on the domestic violence register is not actually an additional punishment. We talked about early convictions. If somebody has been convicted of a public order offence at the age of 19, 20, 21 or whatever, depending on the profile of the situation, if he or she happened to be in a local District or Circuit Court and the local newspaper was in place, everybody can find that information out very quickly, because it is going to be googlable forever. There is a right to be forgotten and all of that, but generally speaking, that will be common knowledge forever. It is not an additional punishment to be included on the register. As has been said, this is just about having a mechanism whereby the constitutional diktat that justice should be done in public is actually made available. This is not an additional punishment. It is actually a protection for others. If we agree with that premise, which I think was the central point of the Deputy opposite, Paul McAuliffe, regarding the rationale for the approach that has been taken, then there is no rationale for allowing people to have themselves removed after only three years following a prosecution.
This is the amendment, above all, that I appeal to the Minister to accept because the logic stands. There is an argument that five years is too short, but I table it with regard to the legislation and understanding that this is just an application. Amendment No. 8 is a secondary position that seeks to allow a longer period for removal in some instances. That should be considered with regard to offences at the most serious end of the spectrum, obviously including murder, manslaughter and rape.
People would be surprised to learn - after all the effort that has gone into this and the campaigning by the Poole family with the Minister and his Department - that we would have a situation where there is a register in place, narrow as it is, but after three years, somebody on the register can apply to be taken off it. In my mind, that is far too short. Five years is much more reasonable. Above all, my appeal to the Minister is to accept amendment No. 5.

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Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-15