If you are in a situation where you think your device is being monitored or controlled by someone else, you can find some safety tips here https://www.sexualviolence.ie/safety-message.

Click here to exit this page and be redirected to the UCC homepage. 

It’s important to know that there are consequences for committing sexual violence. In Ireland, there are a few different laws to know about:

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017  

This law contains the Irish legal definition of consent and sets the age of consent at 17. In Ireland, the legal definition of consent states that "a person consents to a sexual act if he or she freely and voluntarily agrees to engage in that act".  

This free choice to consent is removed when: some is asleep or unconscious; if they are afraid to say no for fear of violence or misled about the identity of the person.  

The law is also clear that failure to resist is not consent. 

This law also covers the sexual exploitation of children. It also adopts the Nordic model towards selling sex, which makes it legal to sell sex in Ireland but illegal to buy it.  

The law acknowledges that young people may be engaging in sexual activity with each other and has included a ‘proximity of age’ defence in the 2017 Sexual Offences Act.  This means that if a person has been charged with an offence of engaging in a sexual act with a person between the ages of 15 and 17 years, he or she can put forward a defence, but only if all of these conditions apply: 

• the age difference between the two people is not more than two years, 
• agreement was given freely and voluntarily,
• neither party was exploited or intimidated, and 
• neither person was in a position of authority.

Link: gov.ie - Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017

Domestic Violence Act 2018

Unfortunately many people who experience sexual violence do so at the hands of a loved one, and there can also be other forms of violence, such as domestic abuse present. This law addresses this interpersonal abuse. This law covers coercive control, emotional abuse, financial abuse, physical abuse.  

If you need support to go to court, Women’s Aid Court support - Women's Aid  and Men’s Aid Court Clinics - Men's Aid  offer free court accompaniment services.  

Legal Aid is also available for victims of domestic abuse.  If you meet the disposable income and capital thresholds for legal aid, and the only application you are making to the court is for domestic violence remedy, you do not need to pay a contribution towards your legal aid. Domestic violence –  - LAB  

If you are experiencing an unsafe home situation, you can apply for one of five different orders https://www.legalaidboard.ie/en/our-services/legal-aid-services/common-legal-problems/domestic-violence/

Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020

Also known as Coco’s Law, this law relates to the non-consensual sharing of nudes and intimate content. This is sometimes called intimate image abuse or Image Based Sexual Abuse, and used to be known as revenge porn, although this term is not used anymore.  

Images of those under 18 are considered child sexual abuse material.  

This law also covers threatening to share intimate content, even if it is never actually shared- it is still illegal to make this threat.  

Two new offences were created under this law: 

1. The taking, distribution, publication or threat to distribute intimate images without consent, and with intent to cause harm to the victim - this carries a maximum penalty of an unlimited fine and/or seven years imprisonment.
2. The taking, distribution or publication of intimate images without consent without a requirement that the person intended to cause harm to the victim - this carries a maximum penalty of a fine of €5,000 fine and/or up to twelve months in prison.[3]

It does not matter if a person consented to the taking of an image if they did not consent to it being later being distributed.[3] 

It is an aggravating factor for sentencing if the perpetrator was in an intimate relationship with the victim. This is because this is an extra layer of harm for the victim.  

You can read more about this law here gov.ie - Intimate Image Abuse  

Intimate Images Shared Without My Consent - YouTube 

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023

This law addresses stalking and non-fatal strangulation by creating: 

1. a new standalone offence of stalking, with a maximum sentence of up to ten years. There is also a new system of civil orders designed to prevent stalking and protect victims, regardless of their relationship with the stalker.
2. a standalone offence of non-fatal strangulation or non-fatal suffocation with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment 

This law also increases the maximum sentence for assault causing harm, a common offence in domestic abuse cases as well as in other assaults, from five years to ten years