The Justice Minister plans to establish a register for those convicted of serious sexual assault or domestic violence, stating: ‘We publish a list of tax offenders, but not for people convicted of rape.’
A source in the Department of Justice told EVOKE’s sister paper the Irish Daily Mail that the ‘intention would be that the list would be publicly available’ – which goes further than proposed legislation by Fianna Fáil which required gardaí to act as middlemen.
But campaigners have warned that the court system must be reformed for the register to work. ‘We can’t have a register if there is no one on it,’ the brother of one woman who was killed by her abusive partner warned.
Minister Jim O’Callaghan said on Wednesday that it is ‘incomprehensible’ that the only way the public learns of convictions of ‘serious indictable offences in this country… is through a journalist being present in the court’ or a victim waiving anonymity.
Mr O’Callaghan added: ‘The domestic violence register is something I am committing to establish. It is important that if somebody is convicted of a serious criminal offence by the courts, the public should be aware of that.’
The Fianna Fáil minister said that it is ‘unfair to every victim to carry that burden’ of making their story public. ‘I think that’s too much for them and I think we need to have a system in place where there is disclosure of information on people who’ve been convicted of serious offences,’ he told the Dáil.
‘We have a situation in this country where we publish a list of tax offenders. We don’t publish it of people being convicted of rape or serious sexual assault.’
He clarified to reporters on Wednesday afternoon that the register won’t be retrospective. Asked how often the register will be published, he said that he does not want the register to result in the ‘permanent criminalisation’ of people, and that it will have to ‘take into account rehabilitation’.
Legislation proposed in the last Dáil term, which was supported by Fianna Fáil, called for the establishment of a register whereby gardaí could alert the public if their partners had previously been convicted of sexual violence – but only when asked. However, Mr O’Callaghan’s plans would go further and facilitate the register being publicly available to all online.
A source in the Department of Justice warned that this proposal may be struck down as it progressed through the Dáil, but that ‘the intention’ is for a publicly available list. The draft legislation, Jennie’s Law, was proposed by the family of Jennifer Poole, who was killed by her former partner in 2021 at the age of 24.
Ms Poole was unaware Gavin Murphy, her ex-partner who murdered her, had a history of abusive behaviour and had several convictions – including a two-year prison sentence for attacking a former partner and her mother. Jennifer’s brother and domestic violence campaigner Jason Poole worked with Fianna Fáil Senator Fiona O’Loughlin to draft Jennie’s Law.
Fears surfaced in May 2023 that the proposed Bill could be shelved after legal advice given to the Department of Justice warned of ‘a number of legal, policy and resource implications’. Concerns then reignited earlier this year when the register was omitted from the Programme for Government.
Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, Mr Poole said he was ‘ecstatic’ with the commitment from Mr O’Callaghan. He said: ‘We will never get justice for Jennie’s death… but now other people could be saved because of this register.’ He said that if the list had been established, ‘my sister would still be alive’.
But Mr Poole said that more must be done to support victims of domestic violence – both men and women – and that there needs to be more ‘wraparound supports’ to help people safely leave their abusers and reform in the courts.
‘The courts must convict. There were 65,000 reports of domestic violence to gardaí last year, all those cases need to go to court, and the courts must prosecute. I am scared we will have a register and no one on it,’ he said.
