How Jennie’s Law will work as Ireland prepares to introduce a domestic violence register

Campaigners welcome progress but warn the proposed register must be consistently used to protect victims

Jennifer Poole: Fatally stabbed at her home in Finglas, north Dublin, by her former partner Gavin Murphy in 2021.

The ink was barely dry on the approval by the Cabinet to publish Jennie’s Law before Jennifer Poole’s brother Jason warned that he will be keeping an eye on its implementation to ensure it is used.

Under proposed legislation due to be brought before the Houses of the Oireachtas shortly, a domestic violence register will be established to help prevent abuse by enabling safeguards against individuals convicted of serious domestic violence offences.

Those on the register will have been convicted of crimes including murder, rape, sexual assault, coercive control, harassment, threats to kill, and false imprisonment.

Mr Poole has campaigned for such a register following the murder of his sister Jennifer by her former partner Gavin Murphy in 2021. Murphy had a previous conviction relating to domestic violence.

The domestic violence 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. 

Names will remain on the register for three years, with the possibility of removal upon request by the offender. 

Last month, legislation for the register underwent pre-legislative scrutiny. Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan secured Government approval to publish the legislation on Wednesday.

The Department of Justice explained how the proposed register is expected to function. “The trial judge will have discretion to publish a judgment in an appropriate case, which will contain details of conviction and sentence, as well as any other information relevant to the offence that the judge deems appropriate. 

"Judgments will be published online by the Courts Service, under a specific heading of ‘domestic violence register judgments’.” 

Brother's concern

Jason Poole: 'There will be a register now that a judge can put somebody on and there is no reason for them not to do so. That is our biggest drive.' File picture: Collins Courts

Mr Poole said: “If that legislation had been there (in 2021), we would still have Jennifer because he would have been on that register because he had previous convictions. 

"My one biggest concern now is ensuring that when it goes to the Houses of the Oireachtas and it is signed into law that the courts actually utilise this piece of legislation. 

"There will be a register now that a judge can put somebody on and there is no reason for them not to do so. That is our biggest drive. I will be personally ensuring that if a judge does not put somebody on that register, I will be calling it out.” 

He added: “Hearing the stories of other women and men and what they are going through gives me the drive and the hunger to continue. As much as there is frustration and anger there that Jennifer should not have had to die for a piece of legislation, we have to park that and now ensure that other families do not have to endure that.” 

While there is a broad welcome for the register, there is some concern that it could be hampered in its implementation — including by the in-camera rule in the family law arena.

Marie Louise Lynch of the group SISI (Survivors Informing Services and Institutions) explained: “Disclosures (about domestic violence incidents) can be made in the family court but because of the in-camera rule, the evidence garnered there cannot be used in a criminal setting. 

"You can have somebody admitting to rape or strangulation in the family law proceedings. It is not able to be used.

“The in-camera rule is lessening someone’s chances of protection all the time so while Jennie’s Law looks great on paper, who is it going to protect? A very, very small percentage of perpetrators will end up with their names on that register. You are relying on the tiny percentage of domestic violence cases where there is a serious conviction.” 

Ms Lynch raised concerns that the register would apply only to more serious criminal prosecutions, placing the onus on victims to protect themselves.

“It is still focused on physical danger," she said. 

The greatest predictor of a fatality is a previously violent relationship, the onus is still on the victim to disclose and to come forward and also to consent to the perpetrator’s name being put on the register. 

I just don’t think that there is going to be enough support from the courts system for that person.” 

Impact on judicial system

Gavin Murphy had a previous conviction relating to domestic violence. File picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

Meanwhile, in its submission to the joint committee on justice in relation to the legislation, the Law Society raised concerns about the possibility of an impact on the judicial system in situations, for example, where a conviction was quashed.

It outlined: “If the judgment is included in the register before the expiration of the appeal period, it may create an issue later on. If the conviction is later quashed on appeal and the case sent for retrial, there will be an increased risk that the jury’s knowledge and opinion will be coloured by the publication of the first-instance conviction in the register. 

"In an age where it is increasingly difficult to protect a jury from outside information sources (eg social media, press etc) it would be naïve to believe that a jury would not have had access to the court’s decision on the initial conviction with all the details it might include (including potentially the facts of the case).” 

The society recommended that “any publication in the register be delayed until final determination of the case, which will be either the expiration of the time period for appeal without any application for appeal having been made, or following the final determination of the case”.

Justice minister Jim O'Callaghan said the Government is committed to 'investing in rehabilitation and prevention programmes'.

In announcing the Cabinet approval for publication of the legislation on Wednesday, Mr O’Callaghan said the Government is committed to “investing in rehabilitation and prevention programmes, with increased funding for victim support organisations and awareness raising programmes to address the root causes of domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence”.

Michelle Walsh, the chief executive of Move Ireland, an organisation that supports the safety and wellbeing of women and children affected by domestic violence, says that Ireland tends to look at the issue of domestic violence through the lens of the survivor, resulting on responding to domestic abuse after a crisis event has occurred.

She said that an orchestrated and co-ordinated inter-agency framework is required to tackle the issues which can lead to significant harm being inflicted by a perpetrator.

Writing in the Irish Journal of Family Law, Ms Walsh said: “Domestic violence is rarely unpredictable. 

By the time violence reaches criminal justice thresholds, patterns of coercion, intimidation, and control are often already deeply established. 

Yet many of our systems remain primarily reactive, intervening only after significant harm has occurred.” 

Ms Walsh, who was elected last week to the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, said there is an absence of a “sufficiently integrated, multi-agency system focused on managing and reducing the risk posed by high-harm domestic abuse perpetrators”.

She called for a stronger preventative framework which would incorporate behavioural change intervention and co-ordinated risk management.