Wexford councillor says domestic violence offenders should be placed on public register for ten years to ‘act as a meaningful deterrent’
Wexford PeopleA Wexford councillor has called upon Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan to increase the length of time violent offenders’ names are listed on a publicly available register. Jennie’s Law, which received government approval last October, will see the introduction of a register of those convicted of domestic violence made publicly available for a period of three years and is designed to provide protection for any further potential victims.
It is named in honour of Jennifer Poole, who was murdered by her ex-partner Gavin Murphy in 2021. She was not aware he had a previous conviction for assaulting a former partner.
And Sinn Féin councillor for the Rosslare Municipal District (RMD) Aoife Rose O’Brien believes that the length of time spent on the list of offenders should be extended to ten years. In a motion submitted at the February meeting of Wexford County Council (WCC) she called upon Minister O’Callaghan to increase this time period in order “to better protect victims, enhance public safety, and act as a meaningful deterrent”.
Currently, Jennie’s Law is before the Justice Committee for pre-legislative scrutiny and, when its report is received, work on finalising the Bill will be prioritised.
In the interim, Cllr O’Brien has asked that the scope of crimes included in the Bill explicitly include harassment, stalking, financial abuse, coercive control, sexual, intimate image abuse and that “convictions for breaches of domestic violence orders, including but not limited to safety orders, barring orders, protection orders, and interim barring orders, as qualifying offences under the legislation”.
The motion was passed unanimously in the chamber.