New domestic, sexual and gender-based violence laws pass Oireachtas
The Oireachtas has passed a major Bill creating Jennie’s Law, Valerie’s Law and new sex-for-rent offences, with direct implications for domestic violence cases, family law and criminal practice.
The Oireachtas has passed the Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026, a package of reforms aimed at domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and now awaiting Presidential signature. The legislation introduces Jennie’s Law, Valerie’s Law and new offences targeting so-called sex-for-rent arrangements.[S1]
What the Bill does
The Department of Justice says the Bill will create a publicly accessible register of judgments for people convicted of domestic violence against a current or former partner under Jennie’s Law.[S1] It will also introduce Valerie’s Law, which provides for the removal or restriction of guardianship rights where a parent has been convicted of killing the other parent of their child.[S1]
The same Bill creates two new criminal offences relating to sex for rent: offering accommodation in exchange for sexual activity, and advertising accommodation in exchange for sexual activity.[S1] The Department says these offences cover both traditional landlord-tenant arrangements and rent-a-room situations, and that the conduct criminalised is the offer or advertisement itself; sexual activity does not need to occur.[S1]
Why Jennie’s Law matters
Jennie’s Law is the most visible transparency measure in the package. According to the Department, judgments will be published online by the Courts Service under a dedicated heading for domestic violence register judgments.[S1] The aim is to ensure that convictions for serious domestic violence offences are visible as part of the conviction process.[S1]
For solicitors, the practical consequences are significant. Defendants facing domestic violence prosecutions may now have to consider not only criminal penalties but also the longer-term visibility of a conviction on a public register.[S1] That has obvious implications for privacy advice, reputational risk and negotiations around pleas and sentencing exposure.[S1]
The register applies to convictions on indictment for serious domestic violence offences and is tied to a new Part 3A inserted into the Domestic Violence Act 2018.[S1] The Department’s statement indicates that publication is intended to make it harder for violent offenders to avoid public scrutiny.[S1]
Valerie’s Law and family law consequences
Valerie’s Law is designed to intervene where domestic violence escalates to the killing of a parent.[S1] The law will allow a court to remove or restrict guardianship rights from the surviving parent in those circumstances.[S1]
That is a material change for family law practice because it links a serious criminal outcome to a child-guardianship question that may previously have required separate civil proceedings.[S1] In practice, lawyers advising on guardianship disputes will need to factor in the likely effect of a homicide conviction on parental rights and on the court’s assessment of the child’s welfare.[S1]
The reform also underlines that domestic violence law is now being drafted with child-protection consequences in mind, not only criminal justice consequences.[S1]
New sex-for-rent offences
The Bill also targets exploitative housing arrangements. The Department says the new offences make it criminal to offer accommodation in exchange for sexual activity, or to advertise accommodation on that basis.[S1] The proposed penalty is a Class A fine of up to €5,000.[S1]
The offence is framed broadly enough to cover both ordinary rental agreements and rent-a-room scenarios.[S1] Because the offence is complete at the point of offer or advertisement, prosecutors will not need to prove that sex actually took place.[S1]
For practitioners, that drafting matters. It lowers the evidential barrier for prosecution and may affect how defence teams assess exposure in cases involving text messages, online listings or other communications that can be characterised as an offer or advertisement.[S1]
Wider significance for criminal practice
The Bill is part of a broader legislative trend in Ireland toward treating domestic, sexual and gender-based violence as a cross-cutting legal issue rather than a narrow criminal law category.[S1] Even within this single package, the consequences span criminal prosecution, public access to judgments, family law and child guardianship.[S1]
It also reinforces the policy direction that domestic violence convictions should carry public as well as penal consequences.[S1] Combined with the new sex-for-rent offences, the legislation gives prosecutors additional tools in situations where exploitation may previously have fallen between legal categories.[S1]
What happens next
The Department says the new laws will now go forward to the President for signature.[S1] Once enacted, practitioners will need to review advice templates, plea strategy, privacy guidance and any family-law materials that address the fallout from domestic violence convictions.[S1]
The immediate effect is legislative, but the longer-term effect is operational: solicitors, barristers and family law practitioners will need to treat these reforms as part of the core legal landscape in domestic abuse, housing exploitation and guardianship disputes.[S1]