Domestic Violence Judgments Register Bill 2026 [Seanad]: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-15
============================================================

Matt Carthy (SF), Cavan-Monaghan

I move amendment No. 15:
In page 6, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following:
“(14) The Courts Service shall ensure that, when the Register is made available to the public—
(a) a statement is included to the effect that the absence of a person’s name from the Register does not indicate that such person does not pose a risk or has not previously engaged in domestic violence or abuse, and
(b) information is provided directing users to appropriate support services, including national and local domestic violence support services.”.”.
This is to ensure that the register is accompanied by clear safeguards to ensure, as has been discussed by a number of Members from across the House, that those who consult the register do not consider absence from the register as meaning an absence of risk. It is also to ensure that the register does not have the effect of giving people who may be at risk a false sense of safety. It is safe to assume that most people who are consulting this register will have a concern for their well-being or somebody else's. Regardless of whether this amendment becomes standard practice or not, I hope it will be a standard practice that when the register is consulted, clear guidance toward support services will be provided. We have a lot of organisations that do incredible work with victims of domestic violence. They are overwhelmed and need more resources, but they want to help people who need help. In some instances, the number of people who do not know the level of support available to them is phenomenal. This would be an appropriate avenue to which to direct people who might benefit from such support services.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

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