David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of amendment No. 40 is to improve the clarity of section 22, which allows domestic violence victims to be accompanied in court during proceedings under the Bill. SAFE Ireland suggested that section 22, which allows applicants for orders to be accompanied in court by a person of their choice, including a support worker, should be amended to allow a particular accompanier to be replaced if there is opposition to the continuation of an individual in that role, on a reasoned basis. It is proposed to amend section 22 to clarify that the court can refuse to allow the applicant to be accompanied by a specified person at any stage of the proceedings in case a difficulty arises with an accompanier during the proceedings. The amendment also makes it clear that the ground on which a court may refuse to allow accompaniment by a specific person is that it would not be in the interests of justice for the individual concerned to accompany, or continue to accompany, the applicant. The court will be required to give reasons for such a refusal.

SAFE Ireland has also suggested that section 22 be amended to allow for accompaniment of applicants in interim barring order and protection order applications as well as in safety order, barring order and emergency barring order applications. As it was the intention that all applicants can be accompanied if they so wish, the amendment will clarify that section 22 will apply to all applicants for orders under the Bill. The definition of the term “applicant” in section 2 includes all applicants for orders under the Bill.