Ireland has approved landmark legislation to create the country’s first public register of domestic violence offenders, in a move campaigners say will empower people to check whether a potential partner has a history of violence.

Background

The online register, known as Jennie’s Law, will publish the names of those convicted of serious domestic abuse offenses, including rape, sexual assault, non-fatal strangulation, harassment, coercive control, and non-consensual sharing of intimate images.

The legislation was passed in the Dáil, or Irish parliament, following years of campaigning by the family of Jennifer Poole, a 24-year-old mother-of-two who was murdered by her former partner in April 2021. Poole did not know her partner had a history of abusive behavior, including a conviction for assaulting a former partner.

The published names will contain details of the conviction and sentence and will be hosted on the Irish Courts Service website. Offenders will be able to apply for removal no earlier than three years after conviction, according to the legislation.

Impact

Lawmakers gave a standing ovation to the Poole family, who were present as the legislation passed. The new Irish register appears to make the country an outlier across Europe, with the UK’s Clare’s Law allowing people to ask the police about a person’s history of abuse or violence, but not everyone is entitled to receive the information.

Critics of the UK system argue that it is plagued by long backlogs and highly inconsistent approval rates across different police forces. Ireland’s legislation comes at a time of heightened urgency around the issue of femicide, with eight women having died violently so far this year in Ireland, already overtaking the whole of 2025.

Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.