I propose to take Questions Nos. 580 and 590 together.
Ireland supports, in principle, the aims and terms of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
The Government commitment to introduce consolidated and reformed domestic violence legislation to address all aspects of domestic violence, threatened violence and intimidation, in a way that provides protection to victims will enable elements of the Convention to be implemented. The development of the consolidated and reformed legislation, including consideration of the Convention provisions, will be progressed as soon as possible having regard to the need for consultations and other legislative priorities in the Department.
Article 52 of the Convention addresses the availability of emergency barring orders. Such orders are available to victims of domestic violence in Ireland under the Domestic Violence Acts, 1996 and 2002. They are known as Interim Barring Orders and are available to the categories specified in statute. Legislation leaves a small minority of cases which would need to be included in order to fully comply with Article 52 of the convention.
The Department is aware of potential legal issues in relation to this. These will fall to be considered in the context of the Government commitment to introduce consolidated and reformed domestic violence legislation. While some constitutional sensitivities have been flagged this would not be unusual in any significant legislative project, such as the domestic violence legislation.
