Government Approves ‘Jennie’s Law’ to Establish Domestic Violence Register and Strengthen Consent Laws

By Eve Lonergan

New legislation will establish a publicly accessible register of domestic violence offenders, to be published by the Courts Service.

The bill, known as ‘Jennie’s Law’, will allow those convicted of domestic violence against a partner, or former partner, to be publicly named on this Register of Judgements.

Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O’Callaghan obtained governmental approval to draft the new bill on Tuesday 21 October. 

The law is named in honour of Jennifer Poole, who was murdered by her partner Gavin Murphy in 2021. Unknown to Ms Poole, Murphy had a criminal history of domestic violence and assault. 

In a statement, Minister O’Callaghan commended the efforts of Jennie’s brother Jason, who led the campaign for this bill: “Jason Poole, the brother of Jennifer Poole has long campaigned for such a register. Advocacy is hugely important and effective and I am proud to be in a position as Minister to introduce the legislation that will provide for a Register in honour of Jennifer’s memory.”

Minister O’Callaghan said: “I am confident that a publicly available Register of Judgements will assist people who are in a relationship or considering a relationship with a person to ascertain whether they have a history of serious domestic violence convictions.”

The proposed Register of Domestic Violence Judgements will publish written judgments following conviction on indictment for serious offences relating to domestic violence, providing the victim gives their consent. 

It will detail the offence, the perpetrator, and other relevant information to be published on the Courts Service website.

In some cases, the Court will retain the discretion to decide if a judgment should be delivered. 

The proposed legislation of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences, Domestic Violence and International Instruments) Bill 2025 also seeks to strengthen the law on sexual consent.

Minister O’Callaghan said: “As the law stands at present, an honest belief in consent – whether that belief is reasonable – is a defence to a charge of rape. 

“We have wanted to change that for some time but we needed to ensure we were not creating issues in sexual assault cases. This legislation will ensure consistency in relation to the consent component across rape offences and sexual assault offences.”

The proposed legislation will now clarify that consent must be based on objective circumstances and not simply be the subjective belief of the accused. Under the new legislation this will apply not just to sexual intercourse but to all types of sexual activity between adults.

In addition, the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences, Domestic Violence and International Instruments) Bill 2025 also proposes to replace references to “child pornography” with “child sexual abuse material” in legislation and in legal proceedings.

Minister O’Callaghan explained the reasoning behind this change: “the term ‘child pornography’ is outdated and fails to reflect the abhorrence of the sexual abuse involved in this type of material. A sexual image of a child is ‘abuse’ or ‘exploitation’ and should not be described as ‘pornography’.”

Founder of Safety Over Stigma campaign, Alicia O’Sullivan, credited the decision as “an important and welcome change”.

She explained that the new term ‘child sexual abuse material’: “accurately reflects the reality of what is occurring: abuse. The word pornography typically, albeit not always, implies consensual content created for the purpose of arousal. Using it to describe the sexual abuse of children is deeply misleading and harmful.”

“These changes in language are not simply semantic”, she continued. “They reflect a broader shift in our society’s attitudes towards victims and survivors – ensuring their dignity, accurate representation, and trauma-informed approaches.”

The legislation also seeks to remove the requirement for dual criminality for sexual violence offences, in line with EU obligations and Council of Europe recommendations, and to impose EU directives on combatting human trafficking. 

On the proposed law, the Minister for Justice stated: “This proposed legislation responds to a range of pressing challenges for the criminal justice system as we combat domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.”

The Register of Domestic Violence Judgements will also signpost users to guidance on reporting domestic violence incidents and information on domestic violence supports.