Minister Jim O’Callaghan secures Government approval to progress the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences, Domestic Violence and International Instruments) Bill 2025
- Foilsithe:
- An t-eolas is déanaí:
Bill includes measures to:
- Introduce ‘Jennie’s Law’ - a new publicly accessible Domestic Violence Register of Judgements managed by the Courts Service
- Strengthen the law on sexual consent
- Replace the term ‘child pornography’ in legislation with more appropriate term of ‘child sexual abuse material’
The Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O’Callaghan, today secured Government approval for the drafting of legislation to establish a publicly accessible Domestic Violence Register of Judgements to be published by the Courts Service. The new law will allow those convicted of domestic violence against a partner or former partner, to be publicly named on this Register of Judgements.
The General Scheme of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences, Domestic Violence and International Instruments) Bill 2025 will also:
- Strengthen the law on sexual consent.
- Bolster our legislation on preventing and combating human trafficking;
- Remove dual criminality in respect of certain offences including forced marriage; and
- Replace references to “child pornography” with “child sexual abuse material” in legislation and in legal proceedings.
The General Scheme will now be referred to the Justice Committee for pre-legislative scrutiny and, when its report is received, work on finalising the Bill will be prioritised.
Minister Jim O’Callaghan said:
“This proposed legislation responds to a range of pressing challenges for the criminal justice system as we combat domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.
“Jennie's Law, named in honour of Jennifer Poole, who was murdered by her ex-partner Gavin Murphy in 2021, will allow those convicted of domestic violence against a partner or former partner, to be publicly included on a Register of Judgements.
“The Register will be managed by the Courts Service and victims will be required to provide consent before the convicted abuser can be named on the public register.
"Jason Poole, the brother of Jennifer Poole has long campaigned for such a register. Advocacy is hugely important and effective and I am proud to be in a position as Minister to introduce the legislation that will provide for a Register in honour of Jennifer's memory.”
“I am confident that a publicly available Register of Judgements will assist people who are in a relationship or considering a relationship with a person to ascertain whether they have a history of serious domestic violence convictions.”
“The legislation will also strengthen the law on sexual consent. For example, as the law stands at present, an honest belief in consent – whether that belief is reasonable – is a defence to a charge of rape. We have wanted to change that for some time but we needed to ensure we were not creating issues in sexual assault cases. This legislation will ensure consistency in relation to the consent component across rape offences and sexual assault offences.
“The Law Reform Commission has recommended that the law on rape should be reformed to require an accused person’s belief in consent to be objectively reasonable. However, during the process of drafting these provisions as part of a previous Bill, it became apparent that redefining the mental state for rape without extending this also to sexual assault risked creating issues where an accused is on trial for multiple charges. The provisions relating to rape were removed from the earlier Bill but will now be progressed alongside provisions on sexual assault, ensuring that any belief in consent must be reasonable, whether this is in relation to a charge of rape or a charge of sexual assault.“
In practice, this means that when a person says they thought the other person had consented to sexual activity, this must be based on objective circumstances and not simply be the subjective belief of the accused. Under the new legislation this will apply not just to sexual intercourse but to all types of sexual activity between adults.
The proposed Register of Domestic Violence Judgements is a mechanism to facilitate publication of written judgments following conviction on indictment for serious offences relating to domestic violence, setting out details of the offence, the perpetrator, and other relevant information. Once issued, judgments will be published on the Courts Service website. The Court will retain the discretion to decide if a judgment should be delivered in a specific case, and the victim must provide their consent. The Register of Domestic Violence judgments will also signpost users to guidance on reporting domestic violence incidents and information on domestic violence supports.
Minister O’Callaghan added:
“The General Scheme also contains measures to transpose EU Directives on combating human trafficking and on violence against women. It will broaden the existing legislative definition of exploitation in the context of human trafficking to include the exploitation of surrogacy, of forced marriage, or of illegal adoption. It will also criminalise the use of services provided by a victim of human trafficking, where the service user knows that the person is a victim. Together, these measures will strengthen our legal framework against human trafficking.”
In line with EU obligations and Council of Europe recommendations, the General Scheme also removes the requirement for dual criminality for sexual violence offences including rape, forced marriage, female genital mutilation and forced abortion and forced sterilisation. Until now, if such offences were committed abroad by an Irish citizen, they could not be prosecuted by the State unless this behaviour was also a crime in the place where it occurred.
Minister O’Callaghan concluded:
“The proposed legislation also provides that references to ‘child pornography’ shall be construed as references to ‘child sexual abuse material’ in legislation and in legal proceedings. The rationale is that the term ‘child pornography’ is outdated and fails to reflect the abhorrence of the sexual abuse involved in this type of material. A sexual image of a child is ‘abuse’ or ‘exploitation’ and should not be described as ‘pornography’.”
The General Scheme can be read in full here: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences, Domestic Violence and International Instruments) Bill 2025
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