Domestic Abuse

Children and young people affected by sexual crime will be offered free legal advice under a new scheme in Northern Ireland. A new domestic and sexual abuse strategy and three-year action plan was jointly launched by justice minster Naomi Long and health minister Mike Nesbitt yesterday.

A new €6.5 million domestic violence refuge has been opened in Wexford.

Alleged domestic abusers should be automatically removed from their family home, the children's ombudsman has said. Dr Niall Muldoon told the Irish Independent that allegations of domestic violence should be treated similarly to allegations of sexual abuse in order to prevent women and children from

Northern Ireland's Department for the Economy is consulting on the introduction of a new right for victims of domestic abuse to access paid safe leave from work. The consultation comes more than two years after the Northern Ireland Assembly approved the Domestic Abuse (Safe Leave) Act (NI) 2022, whi

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has determined that a minimum tariff of 20 years for the premeditated murder of the late Lu Na McKinney “signalled a permissible move towards higher tariffs to reflect the horrific elements of this crime”. Delivering judgment for the Court of Appe

Specialist domestic abuse prosecutors could be introduced to help make Northern Ireland's new domestic abuse law more effective, a report has suggested. Jacqui Durkin, the chief inspector of criminal justice in Northern Ireland, yesterday published her review of how Part 1 of the Domestic Abuse and

The latest police figures indicate a small increase in the number of domestic abuse cases in Northern Ireland. In 2023, there were 33,071 such incidents, an increase of 144 or 0.4 per cent on the previous year.

A new statutory entitlement to domestic violence leave has come into effect. Under the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023, anyone experiencing or at risk of domestic violence will be entitled to take five days' leave in order to access supports. They will also be entitled to ful

Justice minister Helen McEntee and James Browne, minister of state with responsibility for law reform have welcomed the passing through the Oireachtas of legislation which will establish a statutory agency under the remit of the Department of Justice dedicated to tackling and reducing domestic,

Stalking and non-fatal strangulation have become standalone criminal offences following the commencement of a wide-ranging law which also increases the maximum sentence for various offences and introduces new protections for victims. Almost all of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act

Northern Ireland solicitor Claire Edgar and barrister Gráinne Murphy were among guest presenters at this year's European Conference on Domestic Violence (ECDV) in Reykjavik, Iceland. This was the fifth conference of its kind, with the event having previously been hosted in Belfast, Porto, Osl

A plan to create a statutory agency dedicated to tackling and reducing domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV) and supporting victims and survivors has been approved by ministers. The draft Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Agency Bill 2023 will be published "as soon as possible"

Victims of domestic violence who cannot return home should be recognised in law as homeless, the Mercy Law Resource Centre (MLRC) has said in a new report. The Social Housing, Domestic Violence and the Public Sector Duty report was launched by Labour leader and legal academic Ivana Bacik at a multid

Mercy Law Resource Centre (MLRC) will next month host a conference on social housing, domestic violence and the public sector duty. The multi-disciplinary conference in Dublin's Wisdom Centre on Tuesday 5 September, 9.30am–1pm, will see academic and legal experts as well as civil society voice

Victims of domestic violence will receive their full pay for five days under the domestic violence leave scheme set to be introduced later this year, the government has announced. Domestic violence leave will be formally introduced in the autumn with the publication of regulations setting out the ra