It is widely reported in the media that Ireland choose to ratify the 2011 Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence on 8 March 2019, the International Women’s Day.

Ireland signed the convention in 2015 but a series of laws needed to be passed before it could ratify the Convention, for instance the Criminal Law (Extraterritorial Jurisdiction) Act 2019 which was recently promulgated.

The Convention establishes a catalogue of preventive, repressive and other measures that need to be taken by the States Parties. It requires the incrimination of sexual violence including rape, on a consent-based approach, and to ensure the following acts constitute a criminal offence: psychological and physical violence, sexual harassment, stalking, forced marriage, female genital mutilation. The Convention also guarantees the right for victims of such acts to file civil lawsuits and to seek civil compensation.