Barring Order:

A barring order is an order requiring a violent person to leave the family home. The order also prohibits the person from using violence or threats of violence and from watching or being near your home. In order to get a barring order, you must attend the District Court. A barring order can last up to three years if it is obtained in the District Court.

If you are married or in a civil partnership and can show the court that your spouse or civil partner is violent in any way towards you or your children, you can get an order against him or her no matter how long you have lived together.

If you are not married or in a civil partnership, you can obtain a Safety Order against the violent partner if you are living together in an intermittent committed relationship. You can also obtain a Safety Order against a person with whom you have had a child even if you are not living together.

If you are not married or in a civil partnership you can obtain a barring order against a violent partner if:
a.) you have been living together in an intermittent and committed relationship for 6 of the previous 9 months and
b.) the applicant must have an equal or greater interest in the property than the violent partner.

Interim Barring Order:

A barring order directs the respondent (that is the violent person) to leave the home and prohibits the respondent from entering such place until further order of the court or until such time as the court specifies.

The court on considering your application for a barring order must be of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds to believe the safety or welfare of you, the applicant, or any dependent person requires the making of the order. The barring order allows the victim of domestic violence to occupy the residence to the exclusion of the violent or abusive party.

In exceptional cases an interim barring order may be made. In order for an interim barring order to be made, there must be an immediate risk of significant harm to you, the applicant or any dependent person if the order is not made immediately. A protection order must be shown to the Court to be insufficient in these circumstances.

Protection Order:

A protection order is an order which stops short of putting the respondent out of the family home but orders the respondent not to use violence or threaten to use violence against you, or to molest or put you or any dependent person in fear. The protection order does not have a life of its own but only lasts until the termination of the barring or safety order proceedings.

Safety Order:

This remedy was introduced by the 1996 Act and resembles a long-term protection order. A safety order does not put the respondent out of the residence of the applicant but it orders the respondent not to engage in the following behaviour:
(a) using or threatening to use violence against, molesting or putting in fear the applicant or dependent person and
(b) if the respondent is residing at a place other than the place of the applicant or dependent person, inhibiting the respondent from watching or besetting the place where the applicant or dependent person resides.

A Safety Order cannot be granted in place of a barring order unless both remedies are sought . Safety Orders are available for the following five categories of applicants:-
(a) Spouse
(b) Cohabitants for 6 out of the previous 12 months
(c) The parent of an adult child
(d) Cohabitants who do not satisfy the residence requirement of 6 months out of the previous 12 months (eg siblings, same sex relationships)
(d) The Health Board on behalf of an entitled “aggrieved person”. An aggrieved person is defined as a person who would be entitled to make an application for a Safety Order, but fails to do so. The consent of the aggrieved person (victim) is not required although he/she should be consulted before the HSE make the application.

FAQs

Q. I am not married but living with my partner, can I get a barring order?
A. Yes, if you have been living together in a relationship for six out of the previous nine months and the other party doesn’t own more than 50% of the house you are living in.

Q. My partner is violent towards me, what should I do?
A. You should immediately contact the Gardai. If you feel you are in danger, then you should also make an application for an Interim Barring Order.