A new domestic violence disclosure scheme would not be “incompatible” with the constitutional rights of perpetrators, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan has said.
Mr O’Callaghan said a new register, which he hopes to name Jennie’s Law in memory of Jennifer Poole, who was murdered by her ex-partner, would be published and run by the Courts Service and based on convictions for violence and abuse against current and former partners.
The scheme would publicise the details of those found guilty of sexual and domestic violence.
This week The Irish Times reported on analysis by the Department of Justice in 2023 that warned a domestic violence disclosure scheme could expose women and girls to an “unacceptable” risk of further violence and abuse.
RM Block
Documents showed abusers would have to be “informed in advance” that information about them was being shared, to meet their constitutional right to privacy and fair procedures, a legal obligation that could not be “sidestepped”.
This prompted fears that offering such an alert to perpetrators could “trigger” abuse and violence.
Speaking in the Dáil on Thursday, Mr O’Callaghan said he did not “see anything controversial or incompatible with the rights of the individual in this proposal here”.
Those convicted and included on the register would have the right to apply to the court to have the judgment removed from the register after three years. Mr O’Callaghan said this recognised that “rehabilitation” was an important part of the justice system.
“It is unquestionably the case that if people are convicted of serious criminal convictions, that can be publicised most nights of the week on our news. In our papers we read about individuals who are convicted of serious offences,” he said.
“However, it appears to be the case that that’s done on a very arbitrary basis. And it can be the case that individuals are convicted of serious offences, but people don’t get to hear about him because of the fact that there was no journalist in court at the time.”
Setting out the details of the new domestic violence disclosure scheme, Mr O’Callaghan said anyone convicted of such offences would be named in a court judgment outlining their sentence.
This judgment would be published under a domestic violence register published on the Courts Service website.
“I think we also need to reflect, when we’re discussing this issue, upon the fact that justice in Ireland is required to be administered in public. If a person is convicted of a serious criminal offence in Ireland before the courts, that is a public conviction and the public are entitled to know about that conviction,” Mr O’Callaghan said.
The sentencing court would have the discretion to decide if a perpetrator should be included on the register, and the victim’s consent would also be required before their abuser was added.
Mr O’Callaghan said he wanted the register to inform those whose partners could pose a risk to their safety, “as was the case with the shocking and tragic death of Jennifer Poole”.
Ms Poole was a 24-year-old mother of two who was murdered by her former partner, Gavin Murphy, in 2021.
Ms Poole did not know that Murphy had a history of abusive behaviour, including a conviction for assaulting a former partner. Her family, who have led a campaign for a domestic violence register in her honour, maintain she might still be alive if she had known about Murphy’s history.
