Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 48: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to amend the Domestic Violence Act to remove the restrictions caused by residency requirements and ensure non-married parties have better access to protection; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11874/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Domestic Violence Act 1996, as amended by Acts of 2002 and 2010, makes substantial provision for victims of domestic violence who are not married to or in a civil partnership with their abuser. A person may apply for a safety order if he or she has been living with a person as husband and wife for six months in aggregate of the previous twelve, and may apply for a barring order if he or she has been living with a person for six months in aggregate of the previous nine. Contravention of an order under the Act is an offence and is subject to sanctions under the criminal law.

The Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill currently being drafted for publication as soon as possible this year will, it is intended, make further amendments to the domestic violence code. The requirement of a minimum duration of cohabitation in order to obtain a safety order will be removed. In addition, because the issue of access to children can sometimes give rise to violence on the part of one parent against the other, the protection of a safety order will be extended to couples or former couples who have a child in common, including where the couple do not live together and may never have lived together. The protections of a safety order or barring order will be made available to same-sex couples who have not registered as civil partners on the same terms that they are available to opposite-sex couples.

There are difficulties in providing in law for the complete removal of the residency requirement in relation to barring orders for persons who are not married or in a civil partnership. The minimum residency threshold that does exist has enabled the courts to have a reasonable degree of certainty that a couple is cohabiting in a sustained relationship and therefore that it may consider putting a barring order in place. The threshold is set so as to exclude short-term casual cohabitation from the protections of the domestic violence code, but ensuring that a relationship sustained over a period of months is encompassed within the protections. Given the serious consequences of a barring order, which may exclude a person from his or her own home and restrict his or her property rights, there are constitutional reasons for ensuring that a clear threshold is retained.

However, the Government Programme for National Recovery includes a commitment to introduce consolidated and reformed domestic violence legislation to address all aspects of domestic violence, threatened violence and intimidation in a manner that provides protection to victims. The Law Reform Commission, in its third programme of law reform, includes a general review of the law on domestic violence. I expect that the Commission will examine the residency requirements and any recommendations it makes will inform future legislative reform in this area.