Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

104. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of convictions for coercive control to date in 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68335/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Combatting all forms of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, and ensuring that victims and survivors are fully supported, remain absolute priorities for this Government. These commitments underpin the Third National Strategy on DSGBV and a key element of achieving the Strategy’s aims is through robust legislation.

The offence of coercive control, provided for under section 39 of the Domestic Violence Act 2018, recognises and criminalises patterns of psychological and emotional abuse within intimate relationships. A person convicted of this offence is liable to receive a fine or face imprisonment for up to five years.

To be of assistance, I had enquiries made with the Court Service.

Offences such as coercion would typically be sent forward for trial in the Circuit Court.

I am informed that, at this time, the system in use by the Courts Service in the Circuit Courts cannot produce reports for specific offences. The only reports which are available are by offence category rather than for individual offences and categories of offences can contain multiple offences. The Courts Service is, therefore, unable to provide the data requested for these reasons.