The Department of Justice leads on a number of whole of government strategies to tackle domestic, sexual and gender-based violence:
In June 2022, the Department of Justice published Zero Tolerance: Ireland's Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (DSGBV) .
The new strategy builds on the work of the two previous strategies to address a form of violence that crosses race, class, gender and geographical divides in our country. The second strategy set out and achieved the groundwork needed to facilitate Ireland's ratification of the Istanbul Convention, which sets the international standards for combating DSGBV.
The Third National Strategy recognises that, while men and women can be victims and survivors, women and girls are disproportionately affected. As a result, there is a particular emphasis in the Strategy on meeting the needs of women and girls and creating a society where there is zero tolerance for the culture and conditions that foster DSGBV.
The Strategy outlines the government's ambitious goals for the next five years, with the first Implementation Plan covering mid-2022 until the end of 2023. It is built around a framework containing the four Istanbul pillars of:
- Prevention
- Protection
- Prosecution
- Policy Co-ordination
The Third National Strategy adopts an intersectional approach which allows for a more holistic understanding of an individual victim or survivor, accounting for the complexities of someone's life with a view to ensuring that all victims are treated with equal care, regardless of their background. Those who may be most vulnerable – including migrants, members of the Traveller and Roma communities, people with disabilities and the LGBTI+ community – are at the centre of this Strategy.
The final version of the Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence 2022-2026 can be downloaded by clicking on the document link below.
Information on what we mean by Zero Tolerance and additional resources including a child friendly version of the Third National Strategy can be found by clicking this link: Zero Tolerance
Third National Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Strategy
Third National Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Strategy
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On 20 January 2016 Frances Fitzgerald T.D., the then Minister for Justice and Equality, launched the Second National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and gender-based Violence 2016 - 2021 and Action Plan which was agreed by the Government on the 13 January 2016.
The Strategy, built on its predecessor, which concluded in 2014, and envisaged a range of actions to be implemented by State, voluntary and community sector organisations aimed at preventing and responding to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.
The bulk of the Strategy’s actions were aimed at changing societal attitudes through awareness raising to help prevent domestic and sexual violence, improving services to victims and holding perpetrators to account. Many of the measures supported Ireland’s ratification of the Istanbul Convention, the Council of Europe Convention on the prevention and combating of violence against women and domestic violence.
Some of the key actions of the Strategy were:
- The commencement of the landmark Domestic Violence Act 2018 on 1 January 2019, which, among other things, introduced the offence of coercive control. Putting the offence of coercive control on a statutory footing was an important step in recognising the effect of non-violent control in an intimate relationship.
- The enactment of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 which introduced a statutory definition of consent to a sexual act.
- The enactment of the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017 which provides a wide range of measures to protect and inform victims during the progress of their case through the Criminal Justice system.
- The carrying out of a two major national awareness raising campaigns to change societal behaviours in relation to domestic and sexual violence. The ‘What Would You Do?’ campaign to raise awareness of domestic violence ran from 2016 -2019 and ‘No Excuses’ campaign to raise awareness of sexual harassment and sexual violence that ran from 2019 till the end of 2021.
- The establishment of Divisional Protective Service Units in all policing divisions nationwide.
- The creation of measures aimed at combatting sexual violence and harassment in higher education institutions.
The Final versions of The Second National Strategy 2016-2021 and the final Action Plan can be downloaded by clicking these links:
On 9 March 2010, the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern T.D., launched the first ever Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender–based Violence.
The strategy aimed to deliver a well co–ordinated whole of Government response to this specific type of violence as it affects the lives of adults, both women and men, in Irish society.
The First National Strategy was built on an extensive consultation process across the governmental sector, including the justice sector, the health sector, the education section, the housing sector and with the non- governmental sector.
This First National Strategy contained four high level goals which were: to promote a culture of prevention, to deliver effective and consistent services to victims, to enable greater effectiveness of policy and service planning; and ensure efficient and effective implementation of the strategy.
The First National Strategy can be downloaded by clicking this link:
Image: Supporting Victims Journey
On 28 October 2020, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee T.D., launched ‘Supporting a Victim's Journey: A Plan to Help Victims and Vulnerable Witnesses in Sexual Violence Cases’. Supporting a Victim's Journey is an implementation plan to reform the system of investigating and prosecuting sexual crimes to create a victim-centred approach and came about following the recommendations of the O'Malley Review.
The O’Malley Review can be downloaded at this link:
The Minister for Justice is deeply committed to implementing in full all of the recommendations set out in Supporting a Victim's Journey and is chairing an Implementation Oversight Group comprising all relevant departments and agencies responsible for driving the implementation of the agreed actions.
To date, a number of key actions have been delivered as part of implementing Supporting a Victim’s Journey including:
- Legislating for the introduction of preliminary trial hearings;
- The nationwide rollout of Divisional Protective Services Units (DPSUs);
- The establishment of a new sexual offences unit in the Director of Public Prosecutions;
- Work to advance the training for all personnel who come into contact with vulnerable victims is underway;
- The University of Limerick has been commissioned by the Department to develop the framework for the operation and training of intermediaries;
- An improved Victims Charter website which provides a comprehensive repository of information for victims has been created.
In addition to the above, a review of the supports and funding of civil society organisations providing frontline services has been conducted to identify where gaps may exist and how to bridge them.
‘Supporting a Victim's Journey: A Plan to Help Victims and Vulnerable Witnesses in Sexual Violence Cases’ can be downloaded at this link:
The Programme for Government commits to an audit of how responsibility for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is segmented across different government agencies. This commitment is also reflected in Supporting a Victim’s Journey - the implementation plan for the O’Malley Review of Protections for Vulnerable Witnesses in the Investigation and Prosecution of Sexual Offences.
Following a competitive process, Mary Higgins and Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop were commissioned to undertake the audit on 18 December 2020. Prior to this, a consultation meeting was held with the Monitoring Committee of the DSGBV strategy on 13 November 2020 where NGOs broadly welcomed the audit and endorsed the terms of reference which had been drafted collaboratively by the Department of Justice and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
The Audit was published on 14 July 2021. On foot of the audit, it was agreed that the Department of Justice will continue to have lead policy responsibility for domestic, sexual and gender based violence. It has also now been decided that the Department of Justice will also take over the provision of DSGBV services.
The remaining recommendations will be considered as part of the development of the new National Strategy.
The audit is titled ‘Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence: An Audit of Structures’ and can be downloaded at this link: