Domestic violence register should include more crimes, committee hears

Committee chairman Matt Carthy said the current legislation seemed 'quite restrictive' on the offences included

Many offences under the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 — such as assault causing harm, non-fatal strangulation, threats to kill, endangerment and false imprisonment — can be tried both summarily (in the lower district courts) and the higher circuit courts. Those tried in the district court would not currently be included in the register. File picture

Government proposals to create a ‘domestic violence register’ should include a far wider range of offences, including more minor crimes, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

Both domestic violence groups and the family of murder victim Jennifer Poole have urged the proposal to have the judgements on the register for just three years be lengthened.