Rights & the Law

This section has detailed information on the main piece of legislation dealing with victims’ rights in Ireland which is the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act, 2017. It also includes a plain English guide to legal terms, information on how a criminal case is investigated and prosecuted, the law around Domestic and Sexual Violence and descriptions of protections available to victims through various court orders.

You have legal rights as a victim. Recent changes in European and Irish law have improved these rights.

The EU Victims’ Rights Directive came into force in November 2015 and brought major changes to the way victims of crime must be treated in Europe.

The rights in the Victims’ Rights Directive apply to all people who fall victim to crime in Europe regardless of their nationality.

The Directive contains a set of binding, enforceable rights for victims. EU Member States, including Ireland, must ensure these rights are available to victims. In Ireland, these rights became law in the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act, 2017.

This section tells you about the main piece of legislation dealing with victims’ rights in Ireland which is the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act, 2017.

Under the Act, a victim means a person who has suffered harm, including physical, mental or emotional harm or economic loss, which was directly caused by an offence. This includes the family of a person whose death was caused by an offence.

The Act sets out the legal rights of victims in detail. Some examples of these rights are:

• The right to clear and understandable information on the criminal justice system and their role within it
• The right to information about the services and entitlements they can access
• The right to a written acknowledgement of their complaint
• The right to information about the progress of the investigation and any court proceedings
• The right to be informed of a decision not to prosecute the offence committed against them and the right to ask for a review of that decision
• The right to information about the release, temporary release, or escape of a person serving a prison sentence for an offence against the victim
• The right to interpretation and translation where needed to help them understand and be understood during the criminal justice process
• The right to have their individual needs assessed so that any specific protections or supports they need can be considered.

The needs of victims can be very different. The Victims of Crime Act focuses on the needs of victims as individuals. The full list of rights are set out in the Act and can be found here.

In our criminal justice system, the court may call a victim as a witness in a criminal case.

However, the victim is not a party to the criminal case – that is, the victim is neither the person taking the case nor the defendant – and is not usually legally represented. It is the State that takes the case.

Nevertheless, as well as the Victims of Crime Act, there are other parts of the law that apply directly to victims. Particular issues which are relevant to victims are outlined in the following sections. This outline follows the course of a case. That is:

1. The investigation stage
2. A possible charge and bail, if granted;
3. The court hearing
4. The conviction

It is a crime to harm or threaten a witness, a juror, any family member of the victim, or any person who is helping An Garda Síochána with an investigation. You should tell the Garda Síochána if this is happening to you.

A child victim (this means anyone under 18) can have their Garda interview recorded on video, and this recording can be used as evidence in court. This is so that they don’t have to give their account of events again in the courtroom on the day of the trial.

However, they do have to be available on the day to answer questions about their video recording. There are special facilities provided when a child under 18 is answering these questions. For example, they can be in a different room answering over live television link, or if they are in the courtroom they can be behind a screen and so can’t see the accused person and the accused person can’t see them.

A Garda or other specially trained person must make the recording.

A person who is charged with an offence may apply to the court for bail.

Getting bail means that a person who is charged and is waiting for the trial to take place is not held in prison. A person who is charged with an offence (also known as ‘the accused’) is innocent until proven guilty.

Therefore, the accused person can get bail, except in certain cases, for example:

• where there is a risk that the accused person will interfere with witnesses, including the victim
• where there is a risk that the accused person will not turn up for trial
• where the person is accused of a serious offence and where there is a risk that the person will commit another serious offence if given bail – a serious offence is one for which the person could be sent to prison for five years or more if convicted.

If the person does not get bail, they are sent to prison. This person can reapply for bail if their trial does not begin within four months of the first refusal of bail.
If the person gets bail, they must not commit any offences while on bail, and must reappear in court at the end of the bail period. The court may add other conditions to the bail, for example, the accused person may not be allowed to go to certain places or to have contact with certain people, including contact by the accused with the victim or a member of the victim’s family.

A Garda can apply to the court for a warrant to arrest someone on bail, if they believe that the person is about to break a condition of the bail. If a warrant is granted, the Garda can arrest the person and bring them to court. The court may send the person to prison.

A Garda may also arrest a person on bail without a warrant if the person has breached, is in the act of breaching, or is about to breach, a condition of their bail. This is in cases where the Garda considers an arrest to be necessary to prevent harm to, interference with, or intimidation of:

• the victim of the alleged offence
• a witness to the alleged offence
• any person with whom the person on bail is not permitted to contact as a condition of bail.

If a person does not appear in court at the end of the bail period or breaks any other conditions of the bail, they may be arrested and brought to court, if the court orders it. The court may then send the person to prison until the trial.

A person under 18 years of age may give evidence to the court through a live television link in cases involving a violent or sexual offence, or human trafficking, unless the court has a good reason not to allow television link evidence. If the court allows it, any other person may give evidence through a live television link in cases involving violent, sexual or human trafficking offences.

For other offences, a victim may give evidence through a live television link to the court if the court allows it. The court must first look at the circumstances of the case and the characteristics of the victim. The court may also allow television link evidence from another country. The judge and lawyers in the court do not wear a wig or a gown when television link evidence is being given by a person under 18.

Where a person under 18 years of age gives evidence by live television link in the District Court in cases involving violent, sexual or human trafficking offences, the court may allow a video recording of that evidence to be used in later court hearings.

The Legal Aid Board offers an advice service for victims of rape and other serious sexual assault whose cases are going to court.

In addition, if during a rape or other serious sexual assault case, the accused applies to the court to raise issues about your prior sexual experience, the Legal Aid Board can provide legal advice and representation to you to defend that application.

If during a rape or other serious sexual assault case, the accused applies to have your counselling records disclosed (shared), the Legal Aid Board can represent you in that application. These services are free of charge to you. (For more information see the Legal Aid Board page).

If a person is convicted for the crime against you, you can make a Victim Impact Statement about how the crime has affected you. The statement can be made in person or through a legal representative.

In cases where the victim has died as a result of the crime, the family can apply to tell the court about the impact of the death on them. Where a victim cannot speak for themselves, the family can apply to tell the court about the impact of the crime on the victim.

A court must take into account any impact that the crime has on the victim when deciding the sentence for any crime. The court may get this evidence through a report.

The court can ask a professional person, such as a probation officer or a member of a rape crisis centre, to prepare a written report on the crime’s impact on the victim. This victim impact report can deal with the physical, emotional, mental, economic or sexual harm which the victim has suffered as a result of the crime. This is different from a victim impact statement.

More information on Victim Impact Statements is provided in the following booklet prepared by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions which can be seen here.

In a rape or sexual assault case, the name of the victim is not made public.

Only those with a direct interest in the case, and the media, can be present in court in a rape or serious sexual assault case. A parent, relation or friend can accompany the victim in the court.

The following booklet, produced by the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland, provides a detailed guide to the legal process for survivors of sexual violence. See link here.

Domestic violence is the physical, emotional, sexual or mental abuse of one person by another within a close, intimate or family relationship. Domestic violence can affect a diverse range of victims and perpetrators, including spouses, children, parents or partners.

The civil courts can grant a wide range of orders in cases involving domestic violence. These include the following types of orders:

This orders a named person not to use or threaten violence, molest or make fearful the person who has applied for the order or any other dependent persons, including children. It can also order the named person, if they live somewhere else, not to watch the home of the person who has applied for the order or the home of the dependent person.

This orders a named person to leave the place where the person who has applied for the order lives or where a dependent person lives, and not to enter that place unless the court allows them to do so.

A safety order or barring order can order a person not to communicate with the person who has applied for the order or a dependent person. This includes communication by electronic means (for example, Facebook posts, Twitter feeds, email, and so on).

A safety order or a barring order can take a number of weeks to process. In urgent cases, a person can ask for the following orders:

This is like a barring order, except that it takes effect immediately and lasts until the court can consider the application for a full barring order. It is granted if there is immediate risk of major harm to the person applying for the order, or to dependent persons, including children. The order can be granted without the person named in the order being present in the court (referred to as ‘ex parte’) or without notice being given to that person.

This is like a safety order, except that it takes effect immediately and lasts until the court can consider an application for a full safety order or barring order.

This is like an interim barring order, but it is available to some people who are not entitled to apply for a barring order or an interim barring order if, for example, they are not married or in a civil partnership with the other person.

In certain cases, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, can look for orders on behalf of a person.

More information on the above orders and who can apply for them is provided in the following guide prepared by Women’s Aid here.

A breach of a domestic violence order is a criminal offence. If a court gives a safety order, a barring order, an interim barring order, an emergency barring order, or a protection order against a person, and that person does not obey the order, they have committed a criminal offence.

If a court gives a barring order, an interim barring order, or an emergency barring order about a particular place, and the person named in the order does not let the person who got the order, or any dependent child, into the place, or tries to prevent from them getting in, they have committed a criminal offence.

Any person who commits one of these offences can be prosecuted in court. If they are found guilty, they can be fined and or sent to prison. The court may also punish the person for being in contempt of court.

The Domestic Violence Act, 2018 has also introduced a new offence of coercive control. Coercive control is psychological abuse in an intimate relationship. It can involve controlling behaviour. This abuse must cause fear of violence or serious alarm or distress that has a substantial adverse impact on a person’s day-to-day activities.

A person who commits this offence can be prosecuted in court. If they are found guilty, they can be fined and/or sent to prison.

The criminal law includes many different offences. This section briefly explains some of the main offences. (We list these alphabetically.)

An assault is where a person uses force on another person, or threatens to use force, without the agreement of the other person. Assault causing harm or causing serious harm are more serious offences.

A burglary is where a person enters a building without permission in order to steal or do damage. Serious or ‘aggravated’ burglary is where the burglar has a weapon or explosive.

Dangerous driving is driving that is dangerous to the public. Such cases take into account the condition of the vehicle, the place, the amount of actual traffic and the level of traffic that might be expected.

Dangerous driving causing death or dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm are two prominent serious dangerous driving offences.

The crime of harassment involves a person being persistently followed, watched, pestered or subjected to communications without lawful authority or reasonable excuse.

Human trafficking is where a person recruits, moves, accommodates, employs or takes charge of another adult or child to exploit them:

• for work
• sexually
• to remove their organs.

If an Irish person commits one of these trafficking offences in another country, they can be brought to court in Ireland and may be convicted. If any person commits one of these offences against an Irish citizen in another country, they can be brought to court in Ireland and may be convicted.

Murder occurs when a person plans to kill or cause serious injury to some person and kills the person. Manslaughter occurs when a person kills someone but did not intend to do so.

Manslaughter can also occur if the person plans to kill or cause serious injury, but is out of control because they have been provoked or mistakenly thinks that it is necessary for self-defence.

Rape means having sex with someone without their consent. Consent means both people agree to sex. Agreement must be freely given – a person cannot consent to sex, for example:

• if they are too young
• if they don’t understand what they are doing
• if they are asleep or too drunk to make a decision
• if they are forced to agree out of fear.

A person can change their mind at any time and withdraw their consent. Rape includes forcing someone to continue with sex after they have changed their mind.

Sexual assault means any sexual touching or contact without consent.

’Aggravated’ sexual assault’ means a sexual assault, which was made worse because of violence, threats, humiliating the victim or causing them injury.

A theft is where a person takes property without the permission of its owner and with the intention of never returning it. (A robbery is where a person uses or threatens to use force while carrying out a theft.)

The National Adult Literacy Agency also has a useful book explaining legal terms. This plain English guide to legal terms can be viewed here.