Ireland has approved landmark legislation creating the country’s first public register of domestic violence offenders. Activists claim this will allow the public to check whether a potential partner has a history of violence.
The Domestic Violence (Sentences) Registration Bill, known as Jenny’s Law, was passed in the Dáil on Wednesday after years of campaigning by the family of Jennifer Poole, a 24-year-old mother-of-two who was murdered by her ex-partner in April 2021.
Mr Poole was unaware that he had a history of abusive behavior, including a conviction for assaulting his ex-partner.
The online registry will publish the names of people convicted of serious domestic violence crimes such as rape, sexual assault, non-fatal strangulation, harassment, coercive control and non-consensual sharing of intimate images.
While open, online registration will be limited. Judges have the discretion to decide whether disclosure is warranted based on the details of the case, and the perpetrator’s name will only be released if the victim consents.
The names published will include details of the conviction and sentence and will be published on the Irish Courts Service website. According to the law, offenders will be able to apply for expungement within three years of their conviction.
Mr Poole’s brother Jason said the register was a “huge step forward” in changing the culture around domestic violence, telling Irish broadcaster RTÉ last year that potential victims would “know who they are living with”, unlike his sister, who was unaware that her partner had a criminal record and was serving time in prison.
Lawmakers who attended the bill’s passage gave the Poole family a standing ovation, according to local media.
Ireland’s new registration appears to make the country an outlier across Europe.
In the UK, Clare Law allows police to ask questions about a history of abuse or violence, but not everyone has the right to receive information.
Critics of the UK system argue that it suffers from long backlogs and highly inconsistent support ratings across different police forces.
Ireland’s legislation comes at a time of heightened urgency regarding the issue of femicide.
Last week, Women’s Aid Ireland reported that eight women have died from violent deaths so far this year, already more than in all of 2025.
The charity says one in three women in Ireland experience domestic violence, in line with the global average, and that the most significant threat of gender-based violence comes from women’s immediate and private lives, rather than from strangers.
According to UN Women, 83,000 women and girls were intentionally killed worldwide in 2024, the most recent year for which data is available. Of these murders, 60% (nearly 50,000) were committed by intimate partners or family members.
This means that 137 women and girls die every day, or one every 10 minutes.
