Oireachtas justice committee calls for statewide report on domestic violence by gardaí

The report will also call for gardaí to be suspended during investigations for domestic or sexual violence

The recommendation comes after several high-profile domestic violence court cases, including one involving disgraced garda Trevor Bolger, who was sentenced to a three-month suspended sentence earlier this year following the assault of his then-wife. File photo: Collins Courts

Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan has been urged to commission an “independent, statewide study to quantify the prevalence and nature of domestic and gender-based violence” involving members of An Garda Siochána.

In a wide-ranging report on tackling gender-based violence to be published today, the Oireachtas justice committee has recommended that any garda under investigation for domestic or sexual violence should be suspended pending investigation.

The recommendation comes after several high-profile domestic violence court cases involving current or former gardaí.

This includes disgraced garda Trevor Bolger, who was sentenced to a three-month suspended sentence earlier this year following the assault of his then-wife Margaret Loftus at their home in Mayo in 2012. Ms Loftus was also a garda.

Of the justice committee’s 26 recommendations, five of them relate to abuse being conducted by sitting members of the gardaí. This includes encouraging Mr O’Callaghan to commission the “independent, statewide study".

“This study should integrate administrative, legal, and victim data and produce evidence-based recommendations for legislative and operational reform. A similar approach should be taken toward other public sector bodies as appropriate,” it will say.

It will also call for gardaí to be suspended during investigations for domestic or sexual violence, with those subject to “credible allegations” being suspended from promotion and career advancement processes pending the outcome of the investigation. They should also, it will recommend, be precluded from roles within Protective Services Units or other sensitive positions.

The report will also suggest that a statutory obligation requiring the disclosure of any domestic violence-related court order or any conviction of a garda be introduced, with disclosures made to the relevant oversight bodies.

Other recommendations

Elsewhere, the justice committee will call for a “full and comprehensive” review of the in camera rule, “with a review to reforming family law proceedings”. This relates to cases being heard in private, with no reporting allowed. It is most used in family law cases.

“The review should consider reforms to enable appropriate information-sharing and victim engagement, while maintaining necessary safeguards for privacy and child welfare,” the report recommends.

It is also expected to call for strengthened bail law, with “enhanced consideration of coercive control and breach history” during bail decisions, as well as a requirement for “clear, risk-based reasoning where bail is granted in such cases”.

It also recommends an increase in emergency accommodation for both female and male victims, as well as efforts to ensure male victims are appropriately represented and recognised in policy formulation.

Another recommendation will see calls for prevention starting early in schools, third-level institutions and in young people, particularly targeted at the effects of harmful online content, including violent pornography and the use of artificial intelligence technology that facilitates gender-based abuse.

Matt Carthy, Sinn Féin TD for Cavan-Monaghan and chair of the justice committee, will say that domestic and gender-based violence has a “devastating impact”. “It is clear that there are significant gaps in how we tackle domestic and gender-based violence,” he will say.

“We need to acknowledge the impact that gender-based violence has on victims and survivors and ensure that services and justice processes are delivered in a safe and trauma-informed manner.”

• Louise Burne, political correspondent