“A child who sees, hears, experiences or is otherwise exposed to domestic violence should be recognised as a victim of domestic violence in their own right, whether or not they were directly assaulted and whether or not criminal proceedings result.”
Working draft, subject to legal and child-protection review.
This is not about blaming the parent experiencing violence.
It is not about asking a parent to do more.
It is about making sure the child’s experience is not overlooked while the adults and institutions around them respond to the abuse.
By 2030, every child exposed to domestic violence is recognised as a victim in their own right: in Irish law, across Europe, and in United Nations standards.
A best-practice definition of child victims as Ireland brings the EU domestic violence directive into law, and a dedicated children’s focus in the Fourth National Strategy.
The same recognition across EU member states and Istanbul Convention countries, without conditions on proving harm or on a prosecution.
The principle reflected in UN human rights standards, championed by Ireland and a coalition of like-minded states.
Ireland has around 172 refuge units against an estimated need of about 476. Once legal recognition is secured, we will add a second strand: the abuser leaves, the child stays, through stronger and faster barring orders, and a partnership that lets property owners offer vacant homes as professionally run safe homes.
Children are not invisible in law. But the recognition they have is partial, conditional and unevenly applied. These are the gaps we will close.
EU law now counts children as victims, but only those who “have suffered harm because they have witnessed domestic violence” (Directive 2024/1385). That sets both a harm test and a witness test.
The directive’s rights apply to victims of conduct that is a criminal offence. It does not require a prosecution, but whether a child counts can still depend on how each country defines the crime, rather than on what the child lived through.
The Council of Europe’s expert group, GREVIO, found in 2023 that Irish family courts did not properly take domestic violence into account in custody and access decisions, and generally did not consult the criminal courts.
GREVIO found Ireland’s domestic violence data insufficient, disjointed and hard to compare. If children are not counted, their needs cannot be planned for.
England and Wales recognised children as victims in law in 2021. In 2025, their Domestic Abuse Commissioner reported it was still unclear what that meant in practice.
Article 19 protects children from all forms of physical and mental violence. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has named exposure to domestic violence as a form of mental violence.
Why: the global foundation for children’s rights.
The Council of Europe treaty recognises children as victims of domestic violence, including as witnesses. Ireland ratified it in 2019, and GREVIO monitors how it is applied.
Why: independent monitoring with teeth.
The first EU-wide law on violence against women and domestic violence. Ireland opted in, and must write it into Irish law by 14 June 2027.
Why: the legal moment to get Ireland’s definition right.
Target 16.2 commits every UN member state to ending all forms of violence against children by 2030.
Why: a shared global deadline.
The Council’s 2027 annual day on children’s rights will focus on children’s mental health and well-being.
Why: exposure to violence is a mental health issue.
The next national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is now being developed.
Why: a chance to give children their own place in it.
A child’s wellbeing is closely connected to the safety and wellbeing of the non-abusive parent. Responses to domestic violence should support the parent experiencing violence, coercion or control, and the child living with, responding to or recovering from its effects.
Recognising children as victims in their own right should strengthen support for families, not create another burden for a parent already trying to survive.
Children exposed to domestic violence should be:
Identified safely and sensitively.
Given age-appropriate information and support.
Heard in decisions that affect their safety and wellbeing.
Protected from being used to control or punish a parent.
Considered in family-law, safeguarding, health and education settings.
Offered help to recover, whether or not a criminal case proceeds.
Counted in research, policy and public data.
We are examining how recognising children as victims could support, not complicate, the criminal justice response to domestic violence. These are the questions we are testing with legal experts.
Does recording a child’s experience help courts see the whole pattern of abuse, including coercive control?
Is harm to children reflected in sentences? EU rules adopted in 2024 already list an offence committed in the presence of a child as a possible aggravating circumstance.
Is children’s safety weighed when courts set bail conditions and protection orders on the person causing harm?
Do criminal and family courts share what they know, so a child’s safety is never assessed in isolation?
A child’s recognition must never depend on a prosecution going ahead.
No child should have to give evidence in order to be recognised.
Responsibility sits with the person causing harm, never with the protective parent.
Working questions under review. This is not legal advice.
Children respond to domestic violence in different ways. Some speak up. Some intervene. Some care for a parent or younger sibling. Some become quiet, vigilant or highly responsible. Others may appear unaffected while carrying fear or confusion that is not immediately visible.
These responses are not evidence that a child should have been responsible. They are ways children try to survive and protect the people they love.