Series of new measures are aimed at targeting domestic and gender-based violence, as well as gangland crime and attacks on gardaí
Under the new legislation, spearheaded by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, stalking will carry a maximum sentence of 10 years. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
The new offence, which came into effect on Wednesday, is provided for in the Criminal Justice Act 2023, one focus of which is the targeting of domestic and gender-based violence. In cases of domestic violence, according to Caroline Counihan, of Safe Ireland, women can try to minimise what is happening to them as a coping mechanism. By naming non-fatal strangulation/suffocation as a serious offence, society pushes against this inclination. Likewise, by assigning the crime a serious potential penalty, it makes clear the seriousness with which society views such assaults.