Written answer
Domestic Violence
The Minister outlined civil and criminal protections, including safety, barring, protection, interim barring and emergency barring orders, alongside Garda and support services. Urgent applications can be facilitated through special District Court sittings, while application and grant figures are available in the Courts Service Annual Reports; waiting-time and gap data were not provided.
865. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the immediate civil and criminal protections currently available to a victim of domestic violence; the average waiting times for protection, safety, interim barring and emergency barring order applications; the number of applications granted, refused or withdrawn in 2024 and 2025; and whether any gaps or delays in obtaining urgent protection have been identified. [64727/26]
Comment on this
Support services from State agencies and the voluntary sector are available to victims of domestic violence. Anyone in any immediate danger should contact An Garda Síochána on 999/112. AlwaysHere.ie is a website that is run by Cuan, and lists all the DSGBV support services that are available both locally and nationally.
Along with many in-person services, there are a number of helplines that offer support to victim-survivors 24 hours a day and at weekends. The Women’s Aid 24-hour National Freephone Helpline - 1800 341 900 is a free, non-judgmental, and confidential service that offers support to women subjected to domestic abuse including coercive control. This includes emotional, physical, sexual, or economic abuse by a current or former partner.
The National Freephone Helpline provides support in 240 languages. If English is not someone's first language, they can be helped in their own language through the free and confidential telephone interpretation service. The 24-hour National Freephone Helpline is a gateway to local independent refuges and support services across the country.
The Domestic Violence Act 2018 provides a suite of civil court orders designed to protect applicants and any dependent persons, including safety orders (section 6), barring orders (section 7); and short term/interim protection measures including protection orders (section 10), interim barring orders (section 8) and emergency barring orders (section 9).
A barring order directs the respondent to leave and/or prohibits entry to the place where the applicant (and/or dependent persons) resides, and may include additional prohibitions such as using or threatening violence, molesting, putting in fear, attending in the vicinity, following or communicating with the applicant or dependent persons. Emergency barring orders can be made for a period not exceeding 8 days. An interim barring order made ex parte can be made for an initial period not exceeding 8 days, and if made on notice to the respondent, it will ceases to have effect on the determination of the hearing for the substantive barring order.
Where a substantive barring order is made for a specified period, the 2018 Act provides that the applicant may apply to the court before the expiration of the order for a further barring order to take effect from the date on which the order expires. Applicants who anticipate ongoing risk should engage with the relevant court office as early as possible in advance of the expiry date to ensure that any further application can be processed and listed in good time, and to avoid any gap in protection.
To avoid any gaps in protection, the Act also provides for immediate, short-term protections where urgency arises. In particular, a protection order (section 10) may be sought in conjunction with an application for a safety order and/or barring order, pending the full hearing. In higher-risk circumstances, an interim barring order (section 8) or emergency barring order (section 9) may be sought.
In addition, section 24 of the 2018 Act allows for a special sitting of the District Court to be arranged in certain circumstances on request by a member of An Garda Síochána (not below the rank of sergeant), to facilitate urgent applications where no sitting is available in the appropriate District Court district at the time. An order under section 9 may not exceed eight working days and further emergency barring orders may be made against a respondent within a month of the expiry of a previous barring order where exceptional circumstances justify this.
The number of domestic violence applications and number of applications granted are published in the Courts Service Annual Reports 2024 and 2025, which are available on Courts.ie.