Domestic violence act 2018

• Act Number: 6
• Enactment Date: 08 May 2018

Number 6 of 2018
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT 2018
CONTENTS
PART 1
Preliminary and General
Section
1. Short title and commencement
2. Interpretation
3. Repeals
4. Expenses
PART 2
Court Proceedings
5. Factors or circumstances to which court shall have regard in determining applications for specified orders
6. Safety order
7. Barring order
8. Interim barring order
9. Emergency barring order
10. Protection order
11. Power of the Agency to apply for certain orders
12. Power to make care order or supervision order under Child Care Act 1991
13. Application of section 9(2) of Family Home Protection Act 1976
14. Application of section 34(2) of Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010
15. Hearing of applications under Acts together
16. Protection against cross-examination by applicant or respondent
17. Requirement to give reasons for certain decisions
18. Taking effect of orders
19. Copies of orders to be given to certain persons
20. Effect of appeal from order
21. Discharge of orders
22. Exercise of jurisdiction by court in civil proceedings
23. Hearing of civil proceedings
24. Special sitting of District Court
25. Evidence through television link for civil proceedings
26. Right to be accompanied in court in certain circumstances
27. Views of a child for whom an order is sought
28. Information to victims of domestic violence on support services
29. Recommendation for engagement by respondent with certain services
30. Costs
31. Rules of court and service of documents
32. Orders not to affect rights under certain enactments or estate or interest
PART 3
Offences and Proceedings for Offences
33. Offences
34. Restrictions on those present in courtroom in proceedings under section 33
35. Arrest without warrant
36. Prohibition on publication or broadcast of certain matters
37. Penalties for offence under section 36
38. Offence of forced marriage
39. Offence of coercive control
40. Relationship between defendant and victim as aggravating factor in sentencing for certain offences
PART 4
Transitional and Savings and Consequential Amendments to other Acts
41. Continuance of orders made under Act of 1996
42. Continuation of proceedings
43. Amendment of section 1 of Criminal Damage Act 1991
44. Amendment of section 12 of Criminal Evidence Act 1992
45. Amendment of Family Law Act 1995
46. Amendment of section 28 of Civil Legal Aid Act 1995
47. Amendment of Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996
48. Amendment of section 9 of Mental Health Act 2001
49. Amendment of section 2 of Civil Registration Act 2004
50. Amendment of section 39 of Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004
51. Amendment of Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010
52. Amendment of Schedule 3 to National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012
53. Amendment of section 61 of Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013
54. Amendment of section 2 of Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015
55. Amendment of section 3 of Mediation Act 2017
56. Amendment of section 2 of Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017
Acts Referred to
Age of Majority Act 1985 (No. 2)
Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 (No. 15)
Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 (No. 64)
Broadcasting Act 2009 (No. 18)
Child Care Act 1991 (No. 17)
Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 (No. 32)
Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 (No. 31)
Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 (No. 24)
Civil Registration Act 2004 (No. 3)
Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act 1961 (No. 39)
Courts Act 1964 (No. 11)
Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 (No. 32)
Courts of Justice Act 1953 (No. 32)
Criminal Damage Act 1991 (No. 31)
Criminal Evidence Act 1992 (No. 12)
Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 (No. 50)
Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017 (No. 28)
Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act 1990 (No. 32)
Domestic Violence (Amendment) Act 2002 (No. 30)
Domestic Violence Act 1996 (No. 1)
Family Home Protection Act 1976 (No. 27)
Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996 (No. 33)
Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses and Children) Act 1976 (No. 11)
Family Law Act 1995 (No. 26)
Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 (No. 7)
Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) Acts 1982 and 1983
Interpretation Act 2005 (No. 23)
Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act 1989 (No. 6)
Landlord and Tenant Acts 1967 to 2008
Mediation Act 2017 (No. 27)
Mental Health Act 2001 (No. 25)
Mercantile Marine Act 1955 (No. 29)
National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 (No. 47)
Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 (No. 26)
Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 to 2015
Number 6 of 2018
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT 2018
An Act to consolidate the law on domestic violence; to provide for emergency barring orders in certain circumstances; to provide for evidence to be given through television link in certain proceedings; to provide for the right of an applicant to be accompanied in certain proceedings; to provide for the obtaining of the views of a child in certain proceedings; to provide for the giving of information on support services to victims of domestic violence; to provide for the making of recommendations for engagement with certain services by respondents; to provide for restrictions on those present in court during certain proceedings; to prohibit the publication or broadcast of certain matters; to provide for an offence of forced marriage; to repeal provisions for exemption, in certain cases, from minimum age requirements for marriage; for those and other purposes to repeal the Domestic Violence Act 1996 and the Domestic Violence (Amendment) Act 2002 and to provide for the consequential amendment of certain other enactments; and to provide for related matters
[8th May, 2018]
Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:
PART 1 Preliminary and General
		Short title and commencement
1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Domestic Violence Act 2018.
	(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may by order or orders appoint either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions, and for the repeal of different enactments or provisions of enactments effected by section 3 .
		Interpretation
2. (1) In this Act—
	“Act of 1964” means the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 ;
	“Act of 1976” means the Family Home Protection Act 1976 ;
	“Act of 1991” means the Child Care Act 1991 ;
	“Act of 1995” means the Family Law Act 1995 ;
	“Act of 1996” means the Domestic Violence Act 1996 ;
	“Act of 2004” means the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 ;
	“Act of 2010” means the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 ;
	“Act of 2013” means the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 ;
	“Agency” means the Child and Family Agency;
	“applicant” has the meaning assigned to it by section 6 , section 7 or section 9 , as the case may be, and where—
	(a) an interim barring order has been made the applicant for the barring order to whom the interim barring order relates shall be deemed to be the applicant for that interim barring order, and
	(b) a protection order has been made the applicant for the safety order or the barring order to whom the protection order relates shall be deemed to be the applicant for that protection order;
	“barring order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 7 (2);
	“child” means a person who has not attained the age of 18 years other than a person who is or has been married;
	“civil partner” has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 of the Act of 2010 and for the purposes of this Act includes a person who was a civil partner in a civil partnership that has been dissolved under the Act of 2010 but does not include a person who was in a civil partnership that has been dissolved by reason only of the application of section 109A of the Act of 2010;
	“civil proceedings under this Act” means—
	(a) proceedings relating to an application for the making, variation or discharge of a safety order, a barring order or an emergency 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 a barring order, for the making, variation or discharge of a protection order which relates to the application,
	(d) proceedings by way of appeal or case stated which are related to proceedings to which paragraph (a), (b) or (c) applies;
	“court” means the District Court or the Circuit Court;
	“dependent person”, in relation to the applicant or the respondent or both of them, as the case may be, means any child—
	(a) of the applicant and the respondent or in respect of whom the applicant and the respondent are in loco parentis,
	(b) of the applicant or in respect of whom the applicant is in loco parentis, or
	(c) of the respondent or in respect of whom the respondent is in loco parentis and—
	(i) where the child is a child of the respondent, the applicant is in loco parentis to that child, or
	(ii) where the respondent is in loco parentis to the child, that child is a child of the applicant,
	who is not of full age, or, if the child has attained full age is suffering from a mental or physical disability to such an extent that it is not reasonably possible for him or her to live independently of the applicant;
	“emergency barring order” has the...