DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT 2018

• (a) in the case of matter published in a newspaper or periodical publication, the proprietor, the editor and the publisher thereof;

• (b) in the case of matter published in any other written publication, the publisher thereof;

• (c) in the case of matter broadcast, each person who transmits or provides the programme in which the broadcast is made and each person who performs functions in relation to the programme corresponding to those of the editor of a newspaper.

• (4) The judge of the court in which proceedings for an offence under section 33 are brought may, where he or she considers that the interests of justice so require, direct that such information to which subsection (1) applies as he or she shall specify in the direction, may be published or broadcast in such manner and subject to such conditions as he or she may specify in the direction.

• (5) In this section—

“broadcast” has the same meaning as it has in the Broadcasting Act 2009;

“publish” means publish, other than by way of broadcast, to the public or a portion of the public;

“relevant person” means the applicant for the order referred to in section 33(1) to which the offence relates.

37. Penalties for offence under section 36

37. (1) A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) of section 36 is liable—

• (a) on summary conviction, to a class A fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or both, or

• (b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years, or both.

• (2) A person who contravenes a direction or a condition specified in a direction given under subsection (4) of section 36 commits an offence and is liable—

• (a) on summary conviction, to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or both, and

• (b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €50,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years, or both.

• (3)
• (a) Where an offence under section 36 has been committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of a person, being a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that person as well as the body corporate commits an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she committed the first-mentioned offence.

• (b) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, paragraph (a) shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his or her functions of management as if he or she were a director or manager of the body corporate.

• (4) It shall be a defence for a person who is charged with an offence under section 36 to prove that at the time of the alleged offence the person was not aware, and neither suspected nor had reason to suspect, that the matter alleged to have been published or broadcast was a matter specified in that section.

38. Offence of forced marriage

38. (1) A person commits an offence where he or she engages in relevant conduct for the purpose of causing another person to enter into a ceremony of marriage.

• (2) A person commits an offence where he or she—

• (a) removes another person from the State, and

• (b) intends the other person to be subject to relevant conduct outside the State for the purpose of causing that other person to enter into a ceremony of marriage.

• (3) A person commits an offence where, in a place other than the State, the person engages in relevant conduct for the purpose of causing another person to enter into a ceremony of marriage and the first-mentioned person is, at the time he or she engages in that conduct—

• (a) an Irish citizen or ordinarily resident in the State and that conduct for that purpose would constitute an offence in the place in which that conduct occurs,

• (b) on board an Irish ship within the meaning of section 9 of the Mercantile Marine Act 1955, or

• (c) on an aircraft registered in the State.

• (4) For the purpose of an offence under this section, the relevant conduct concerned (other than undue influence) may be directed at the other person referred to in subsection (1) or (2)(a), as the case may be, or another person.

• (5) Proceedings for an offence under subsection (3) may be taken in any place in the State and the offence may, for all incidental purposes, be treated as having been committed in that place.

• (6) In proceedings for an offence under subsection (3) —

• (a) a certificate signed by an officer of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and stating that a passport was issued by that Department to a person on a specified date, and

• (b) a certificate signed by an officer of the Minister and stating that, to the best of the officer’s knowledge and belief, the person has not ceased to be an Irish citizen,

is evidence of the facts stated in the certificate, and is taken to have been signed by the person purporting to have signed it, unless the contrary is shown.

• (7) A person who commits an offence under this section shall be liable—

• (a) on summary conviction to a class A fine or a term of imprisonment not exceeding 12 months, or both, or

• (b) on conviction on indictment to a fine or a term of imprisonment not exceeding 7 years, or both.

• (8) For the purposes of this section a person shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident in the State if he or she has had his or her principal residence in the State for the period of 12 months immediately preceding the alleged commission of the offence.

• (9) Where a person has been acquitted of an offence in a place other than the State, he or she shall not be proceeded against for an offence under this section consisting of the alleged act or acts constituting the first-mentioned offence.

• (10) Where a person has been convicted of an offence in a place other than the State, he or she shall not be proceeded against for an offence under this section consisting of the act or acts constituting the first-mentioned offence.

• (11) In this section—

“ceremony of marriage” means any religious, civil or secular ceremony of marriage, whether legally binding or not;

“relevant conduct” means violence, threats, undue influence or any form of coercion or duress;

“removes another person from the State” includes—

• (a) arranging any part of the other person’s travel out of the State,

• (b) accompanying the other person for any portion of that travel,

• (c) arranging that the other person be met when his or her travel out of the State has terminated, or

• (d) doing any other act that could facilitate the other person’s travel out of the State.

39. Offence of coercive control

39. (1) A person commits an offence where he or she knowingly and persistently engages in behaviour that—

• (a) is controlling or coercive,

• (b) has a serious effect on a relevant person, and

• (c) a reasonable person would consider likely to have a serious effect on a relevant person.

• (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person’s behaviour has a serious effect on a relevant person if the behaviour causes the relevant person—

• (a) to fear that violence will be used against him or her, or

• (b) serious alarm or distress that has a substantial adverse impact on his or her usual day-to-day activities.

• (3) A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable—

• (a) on summary conviction, to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or both, and

• (b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or both.

• (4) In this section, a person is a “relevant person” in respect of another person if he or she—

• (a) is the spouse or civil partner of that other person, or

• (b) is not the spouse or civil partner of that other person and is not related to that other person within a prohibited degree of relationship but is or was in an intimate relationship with that other person.

40. Relationship between defendant and victim as aggravating factor in sentencing for certain offences

40. (1) Where a court is determining the sentence to be imposed on a person for a relevant offence, the fact that the offence was committed by the person against a relevant person shall be treated, for the purpose of determining the sentence, as an aggravating factor.

• (2) Subject to subsection (3), where subsection (1) applies the court shall impose a sentence which is greater than that which would have been imposed if the person against whom the offence was committed was not a relevant person.

• (3) Subsection (2) shall not apply where the court considers that there are exceptional circumstances justifying it not applying that subsection.

• (4) The sentence imposed as a result of the application of subsection (2) shall not be greater than the maximum sentence permissible for the relevant offence concerned.

• (5) In this section—

“Act of 1990” means the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act 1990;

“relevant offence” means—

• F3[(a) an offence under section 2 , 3 , 3A, 4 , 4A or sections 5 to 15 of the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997,]

• F4[(aa) an offence under section 2 or 3 of the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020,]

• (b) any offence which involves violence or a threat of violence to a person other than an offence—

• (i) referred to in paragraph (a), or

• (ii) under section 39,

• (c) rape,

• (d) rape under section 4 of the Act of 1990,

• (e) sexual assault within the meaning of section 2 of the Act of 1990,

• (f) aggravated sexual assault within the meaning of section 3 of the Act of 1990,

• (g) an offence consisting of attempting or conspiring to commit, or aiding or abetting, counselling or procuring or inciting the commission of, an offence referred to in F5[in paragraph (a), (aa), (b), (c), (d), (e) or (f)].

• (6) In this section, a person is a “relevant person” in respect of another person if he or she—

• (a) is the spouse or civil partner of that other person, or

• (b) is not the spouse or civil partner of that other person and is not related to that other person within a prohibited degree of relationship but is or was in an intimate relationship with that other person.

PART 4 Transitional and Savings and Consequential Amendments to other Acts

41. Continuance of orders made under Act of 1996

41. (1) A safety order made under the Act of 1996 in force immediately before the coming into operation of section 6 shall, after that coming into operation, continue in force as if it had been made under that section and this Act shall apply to that order.

• (2) A barring order made under the Act of 1996 in force immediately before the coming into operation of section 7 shall, after that coming into operation, continue in force as if it had been made under that section and this Act shall apply to that order.

• (3) An interim barring order made under the Act of 1996 in force immediately before the coming into operation of section 8 shall, after that coming into operation, continue in force as if it had been made under that section and this Act shall apply to that order.

• (4) A protection order made under the Act of 1996 in force immediately before the coming into operation of section 10 shall, after that coming into operation, continue in force as if it had been made under that section and this Act shall apply to that order.

42. Continuation of proceedings

42. (1) Where on the coming into operation of Part 2, proceedings referred to in subsection (2) have been commenced under the Act of 1996 but not determined, those proceedings shall be continued as if they were civil proceedings under this Act.

• (2) Subsection (1) applies to the following proceedings:

• (a) proceedings for the making, variation or discharge of a safety order or a barring order;

• (b) proceedings, consequent on the making of an application for a barring order, for the making, variation or discharge of an interim barring order which relates to the application;

• (c) proceedings, consequent on the making of an application for a safety order or barring order, for the making, variation or discharge of a protection order which relates to the application;

• (d) any proceedings by way of appeal or case stated which are related to proceedings to which paragraph (a), (b) or (c) applies.

43. Amendment of section 1 of Criminal Damage Act 1991

43. Section 1 of the Criminal Damage Act 1991 is amended—

• (a) in subsection (3)(b), by the substitution of the following subparagraph for subparagraph (ii):

• “(ii) is the subject of a safety order, protection order, interim barring order or barring order made under the Domestic Violence Act 2018, or treated under section 41 of that Act as if that order was made under that Act, or is excluded from the home pursuant to any other order of the court,”,

and

• (b) in subsection (3A)(b), by the substitution of the following subparagraph for subparagraph (ii):

• “(ii) is the subject of a safety order, protection order, interim barring order or barring order made under the Domestic Violence Act 2018, or treated under section 41 of that Act as if that order was made under that Act, or is excluded from the home pursuant to any other order of the court.”.

44. Amendment of section 12 of Criminal Evidence Act 1992

44. Section 12(1) (amended by section 30 of the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017) of the Criminal Evidence Act 1992 is amended in the definition of “relevant offence” —

• (a) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (d):

• “(da) an offence under section 33, 38 or 39 of the Domestic Violence Act 2018;”,

and

• (b) in paragraph (e), by the substitution of “(c), (d) or (da)” for “(c) or (d)”.

45. Amendment of Family Law Act 1995

45. (1) The Act of 1995 is amended—

• (a) in section 2(1) —

• (i) by the deletion of the definition of “Act of 1996”, and

• (ii) by the insertion of the following definition:

(“ ‘ Act of 2018 ’ means the Domestic Violence Act 2018;”,

• (b) in section 6, by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a) :

• “(a) an order under section 6, 7, 8 or 10 of the Act of 2018,”,

• (c) in section 10(1), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (d) :

• “(d) an order under section 6, 7, 8 or 10 of the Act of 2018,”,

• (d) in section 31(1), by the deletion of paragraph (b),

• (e) by the repeal of section 33,

• (f) in section 38(4)—

• (i) by the deletion of paragraph (a), and

• (ii) in paragraph (b), by the deletion of the words “in any other case,”,

and

• (g) in section 47(6), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (d):

• “(d) under the Act of 2018,”.

• (2) Where on the coming into operation of this section, an application has been made under section 33 of the Act of 1995 but not determined that application shall continue as if the amendments effected by paragraphs (d), (e) and (f) of subsection (1) had not been made and, where an order is made under section 33 pursuant to that application exempting the marriage from the application of section 31(1)(a) of the Act of 1995, that exemption shall be a valid exemption for that purpose.

• (3) Notwithstanding the coming into operation of paragraph (d) of subsection (1), section 31(1)(b) of the Act of 1995 shall continue to apply to an exemption granted under section 33 of that Act prior to that coming into operation and to an exemption granted in accordance with subsection (2).

• (4) For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this section shall affect the validity of a marriage by reason only that the marriage was entered into in reliance on an exemption granted under section 33 of the Act of 1995—

• (a) prior to the coming into operation of this section, or

• (b) in accordance with subsection (2).

46. Amendment of section 28 of Civil Legal Aid Act 1995

46. Section 28 of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 is amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (5C):

• “(5D) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, where an applicant or respondent (within the meaning of the Domestic Violence Act 2018) is prevented from conducting a cross-examination referred to in section 16 of that Act, the Board shall grant a legal aid certificate to the applicant or respondent, as the case may be, for the purpose of his or her being represented in relation to such a cross-examination.”.

47. Amendment of Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996

47. The Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996 is amended—

• (a) in section 2(1) —

• (i) by the deletion of the definition of “Act of 1996”, and

• (ii) by the insertion of the following definition:

“ ‘ Act of 2018 ’ means the Domestic Violence Act 2018;”,

• (b) in section 11, by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a) :

• “(a) a safety order, barring order, interim barring order or protection order under the Act of 2018,”,

and

• (c) in section 15(1), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (d) :

• “(d) an order under section 6, 7, 8 or 10 of the Act of 2018,”.

48. Amendment of section 9 of Mental Health Act 2001

48. Section 9 of the Mental Health Act 2001 is amended in subsection (8) by—

• (a) the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “civil partner”:

“ ‘civil partner’, in relation to a person, does not include a civil partner of a person who is living separately and apart from the person or in respect of whom—

• (a) an application for an order has been made under the Domestic Violence Act 2018 or an application for an order has been made which is treated, in accordance with section 42 of that Act, as if it had been made under that Act, or

• (b) an order has been made under the Domestic Violence Act 2018 or an order has been made which is treated, in accordance with section 41 of that Act, as if it had been made under that Act;”,

and

• (b) the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “spouse”:

“ ‘spouse’, in relation to a person, does not include a spouse of a person who is living separately and apart from the person or in respect of whom—

• (a) an application for an order has been made under the Domestic Violence Act 2018 or an application for an order has been made which is treated, in accordance with section 42 of that Act, as if it had been made under that Act, or

• (b) an order has been made under the Domestic Violence Act 2018 or an order has been made which is treated, in accordance with section 41 of that Act, as if it had been made under that Act.”.

49. Amendment of section 2 of Civil Registration Act 2004

49. Section 2(2) of the Civil Registration Act 2004 is amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c):

• “(c) one or both of the parties to the intended marriage will be under the age of 18 years on the date of solemnisation of the intended marriage and an exemption from the application of section 31(1)(a) of the Family Law Act 1995 in relation to the marriage was not granted under section 33 of that Act—

• (i) prior to the coming into operation of subsection (1) of section 45 of the Domestic Violence Act 2018, or

• (ii) in accordance with subsection (2) of section 45 of that Act.”.

50. Amendment of section 39 of Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004

50. (1) Section 39 of the Act of 2004 is amended in the definition of “relevant enactment” by the substitution—

• (a) of the following paragraph for paragraph (h):

• “(h) section 33 (for the purposes of section 45(2) of the Domestic Violence Act 2018) or 38 of the Act of 1995;”,

and

• (b) of the following paragraph for paragraph (j):

• “(j) section 23 of the Domestic Violence Act 2018;”.

• (2) Where, prior to the coming into operation of subsection (1)(a), a person has contravened section 40A(1) of the Act of 2004 as respects proceedings to which paragraph (h) of the definition of “relevant enactment” in section 39 of that Act relates, then notwithstanding the repeal of section 33 of the Act of 1995 by section 45(1)(e), section 40A of the Act of 2004 continues to apply to that contravention as if the amendment in subsection (1)(a) had not been made.

• (3) Where, prior to the coming into operation of subsection (1)(b), a person has contravened section 40A(1) of the Act of 2004 as respects proceedings to which paragraph (j) of the definition of “relevant enactment” in section 39 of that Act relates, then notwithstanding the repeal of section 16 of the Act of 1996 by section 3, section 40A of the Act of 2004 continues to apply to that contravention as if the amendment in subsection (1)(b) had not been made.

51. Amendment of Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010

51. The Act of 2010 is amended—

• (a) in section 115, by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):

• “(a) a safety order, barring order, interim barring order or protection order under the Domestic Violence Act 2018;”,

• (b) in section 119(1), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (d):

• “(d) an order under the Domestic Violence Act 2018;”,

and

• (c) in section 139, in the definition of “civil partnership law proceedings”, by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b):

• “(b) under the Domestic Violence Act 2018, or”.

52. Amendment of Schedule 3 to National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012

52. Schedule 3 to the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 is amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph 1:

“1. An offence under section 17 of the Domestic Violence Act 1996 or section 33, 38 or 39 of the Domestic Violence Act 2018.”.

53. Amendment of section 61 of Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013

53. Section 61(1) of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 is amended in paragraph (e) by the substitution of “an order has been made under the Domestic Violence Act 2018 or an order has been made which is treated, in accordance with section 41 of that Act, as if it had been made under that Act” for “an order has been made under the Domestic Violence Act 1996”.

54. Amendment of section 2 of Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015

54. Section 2 of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 is amended by the substitution in subsection (1) of the following definition for the definition of “safety or barring order”:

“ ‘safety or barring order’ means a safety order or barring order made under the Domestic Violence Act 1996 or under the Domestic Violence Act 2018;”.

55. Amendment of section 3 of Mediation Act 2017

55. Section 3(1) of the Mediation Act 2017 is amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (h):

• “(h) proceedings under the Domestic Violence Act 2018;”.

56. Amendment of section 2 of Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017

56. Section 2(1) of the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017 is amended in the definition of “protection measure” by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c):

• “(c) advice regarding safety orders, barring orders, interim barring orders, emergency barring orders and protection orders within the meaning of the Domestic Violence Act 2018;”.