The callous and cowardly murder of Veronica Guerin revulsed and shocked the country 30 years ago today. It was a heinous act.

It was also extremely consequential, as both Veronica’s work and ultimately her murder, led to significant legislative and policing reform.

It motivated a much more aggressive approach by the State in how we confronted organised crime.  This resulted in the establishment of the Criminal Assets Bureau under the Criminal Assets Bureau Act 1996 in addition to the enactment of the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996.

An Garda Siochana were also given new surveillance powers and the use of the non-jury Special Criminal Court was expanded to cover gangland crime trials.

The Criminal Assets Bureau’s remit, which continues today, is to target a person’s assets, wherever situated, which derive, or are suspected to derive, directly or indirectly, from criminal activity.

For the past 30 years criminal gangs and their revenue streams have been relentlessly pursued and dismantled by CAB.  Over those thirty years, CAB has returned more than €220 million to the State and deprived criminal organisations of significant sources of revenue.

Veronica’s legacy can still be seen in how Gardaí confront organised crime today. They are relentlessly pursuing criminal networks, here and across continents, with the same vigour as Veronica pursued the truth in her work.

This is leading to a reduction in major crimes and significant prosecutions. The recent sentencing of Sean McGovern and the continued dismantling of the Kinahan organised crime group stand as a testament to that.

So too is the fact that in the last 18 months, there has been no gun-related killings in Ireland.

Veronica Guerin’s sacrifice and legacy will never be forgotten by the State.

Domestic Violence (Judgments) Register Bill 2026 to be known as Jennie’s law in honour of murdered Jennifer Poole

Abusers convicted of serious domestic violence will have their names included on a publicly available register for the first time, under a new law designed to allow those with concerns to check whether their partner has a violent past.

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan will bring a Bill creating a new domestic violence register to Cabinet this week. The proposed legislation will be known as Jennie’s Law, and the Government plans to have the landmark law enacted before the Dáil summer recess.

The Domestic Violence (Judgments) Register Bill 2026 will be known as Jennie’s law in honour of Jennifer Poole, a 24-year-old mother of two who was murdered by her former partner Gavin Murphy in 2021. Poole did not know that Murphy had a history of abusive behaviour, including a conviction for assaulting a former partner.

The Poole family, who have campaigned for a new domestic violence register in honour of their sister and daughter, believe that had Jennifer might still be alive had she known about Murphy’s previous convictions.

I was extremely pleased to introduce the Guardianship of Infants (Amendment) Bill 2026 to Dáil Éireann today which will remove guardianship rights from a parent or guardian who kills the other parent. The Bill will be known as Valerie’s Law in memory of Valerie French who was murdered by her husband seven years ago, yet he still retains all guardianship rights over their three children.  I welcomed Valerie’s brother David and sisters Suzette and Hilary to the Dáil today and Veronica watching online.  They campaigned tirelessly for a change to the law and today we are a step closer to this necessary and important reform.

New powers will allow for payment-freezing measures as well as new access orders to compel the disclosure of credentials.

JUSTICE MINISTER JIM O’Callaghan wants to strengthen the powers of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) so the organisation can seize cryptocurrency assets.

The move comes after reports that CAB has been unable to realise the value of 6,000 seized bitcoins which are worth just under €370m because the access codes to digital wallets have been lost.

In the last ten years, CAB has seized and sold cryptocurrency worth almost €6.5m, according to figures from the Department of Justice. 

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan wants to boost the powers of CAB when it comes to cryptocurrency and sought government approval to propose amendments to the Proceeds of Crime and Related Matters Bill 2025.

The changes will provide for new payment-freezing measures tailored specifically to the technological and operational characteristics of crypto-assets.

Seizure of crypto-assets

This will ensure CAB can effectively seize this crypto-assets through enhanced powers of search, seizure and detention. 

New access orders to compel the disclosure of credentials necessary to obtain effective control are also contained in the amendments.

Cryptocurrency is an increasingly popular option in the criminal world for hiding wealth due to the difficulties authorities face in tracing it. 

These amendments, approved by Cabinet this week, are important to Irish law because they would insert into the Proceeds of Crime Act a distinct and internally coherent statutory regime for crypto-assets.

Sources state that in particular, they would enable the Act to address the principal ways in which crypto-assets are now held and controlled, by distinguishing between provider-administered arrangements and self-hosted or otherwise unadministered holdings. 

It would also allow for crypto-wallet freezing directions and orders, search, seizure, detention and access orders.

The legislation in its current form allows criminal assets to be seized based on a civil process without the need for a conviction.

CAB is an independent statutory body, established in 1996, which carries out investigations into the suspected proceeds of criminal conduct.

• Early intervention initiative to provide immediate support for children impacted by domestic violence

• Pilot scheme to launch building on experience of schools in Northern Ireland

19 March 2026

The Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O’Callaghan, has convened a cross-border meeting in advance of legislation he is introducing to allow for the introduction of Operation Encompass. 

Operation Encompass will provide for information sharing between An Garda Síochána and school authorities to strengthen protections for children impacted by violence in the home.

Operation Encompasshas been successfully operating in schools across Northern Ireland since 2021. Minister O’Callaghan is now legislating to introduce the initiative in this jurisdiction.

Operation Encompass involves a notification process whereby An Garda Síochána will inform a child’s school within 24 hours of attending a domestic violence incident at the child’s home. This is to ensure that designated school staff are aware that a child has experienced a violent and traumatic incident and can therefore provide the child with additional care and support during the school day. 

In Drogheda today members from An Garda Síochána, the PSNI, school principals, education partners and government officials North and South came together to exchange information and lessons learned from rolling out Operation Encompass across Northern Ireland.

Operation Encompass was first introduced in the North in 2021 as a pilot involving 60 schools in Downpatrick. It has since been extended to all 1,162 schools in Northern Ireland.  In the most recent reporting year, approximately 60,000 incidents were notified through the programme.

Minister O’Callaghan said,

“A central feature of the government’s approach to confronting domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence is the recognition of children as victims and survivors of domestic violence in their own right.

“I recently met with Minister Naomi Long and we discussed the benefits and impact that Operation Encompass is having in Northern Ireland.  Today’s event is about learning from those at the frontline of this initiative in the North.

“Children who experience domestic abuse, including violence in the home, can be profoundly affected and require timely, appropriate, and child centred responses that recognise their specific needs and circumstances.

“Operation Encompass is a safeguarding measure that supports the wellbeing of children by providing immediate care and support in the school environment to help reduce the impact of trauma.”

Minister O’Callaghan added,

“Work is underway to introduce a pilot in Drogheda which will mirror the initial pilot in Downpatrick. North-South cooperation on this initiative is supported through the Shared Island Initiative at the Department of the Taoiseach. This will be followed by a national rollout to all schools when the necessary legislation has been enacted.

“Today’s event is an important step in North-South collaboration, and I want to thank all those involved for their work and dedication in helping to develop this important initiative.  This work will provide an island-wide mechanism for supporting children’s wellbeing as part of our shared commitment to confronting domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.”

Among the attendees today were Dr Stephanie O’Keefe, CEO of Cuan, and Grainne Berrill, Director of the National Office for Community Safety.

Dr O’Keeffe noted,

“We know that teachers are often on the frontline supporting children affected by domestic violence, and that they need the right information at the right time to ensure children get the care they need. Operation Encompass aligns with existing safeguarding frameworks within the Irish education system, including statutory child protection obligations and the strong emphasis on pastoral care within schools.

“Cuan is supporting the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to deliver on the important commitment in Zero Tolerance; the Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence to develop an operational framework to introduce Operation Encompass in the Irish system. Today’s event is a key opportunity to learn from our counterparts in Northern Ireland who have successfully rolled out the initiative to all schools and are generously sharing their experiences with us.”

Speaking at the meeting, Ms Berrill said,

“Operation Encompass is an excellent example of a community based, collaborative approach to harm prevention in relation to issues of community safety. Drogheda’s population size provides the right scale and mix of schools suitable to test the model in practice.

“The model was originally named as an action in the Drogheda Report Implementation Plan, a whole of government plan to improve community safety and wellbeing in the town led by the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. The Louth Local Community Safety Partnership now has a role in supporting the delivery of such outstanding actions.

“The identification of Drogheda as the pilot site for Operation Encompass not only delivers on that action but also allows the collaborative relationships that were built in the delivery of that Plan to be leveraged in the rollout of the pilot in the area.”

The General Scheme of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences, Domestic Violence and International Instruments) Bill 2025 includes the enabling provisions that would allow Gardai inform a designated person in a school that a domestic violence incident has occurred in a pupil’s home. Minister O’Callaghan secured government approval on 21 October 2025.

Pre-legislative scrutiny of the General Scheme took place on 20 January 2026.

Ends

Minister Jim O’Callaghan launches innovative new child maintenance calculator

26 February 2026

The Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O’Callaghan has today (Thursday 26 February) launched an innovative new online child maintenance calculator to help parents in coming to arrangements on child maintenance payments.

The calculator can be accessed online from today at www.childmaintenancecalculator.ie

The launch of the calculator follows on from the publication last month by Minister O’Callaghan of Ireland’s first set of Child Maintenance Guidelines. The calculator is intended to help make the guidelines more accessible for parents.

Development of the guidelines was a key recommendation of the 2024 Review of the Enforcement of Child Maintenance Orders.

Minister O’Callaghan said:

“I am working to progress significant family justice reforms.

The launch of this innovative new calculator today, along with the recent publication of child maintenance guidelines, are central to improving fairness, consistency and transparency when parents are making child maintenance arrangements.

“I am confident the guidelines and the calculator will be helpful tools for parents who choose, and for whom it is possible, to make private arrangements for child maintenance between themselves, rather than through the court system.

“They will assist parents in determining fair child maintenance payments, reducing conflict by making the calculation of child maintenance more objective.

The calculator is available online at www.childmaintenancecalculator.ie and takes four simple steps to obtain an estimated child maintenance amount. I would encourage parents to consult the guidelines and calculator when coming to arrangements on child maintenance.”

The Review of the Enforcement of Child Maintenance Orders, published in January 2024, was one of the actions contained in the “Supporting Children” goal of the Family Justice Strategy 2022-2025.

• Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration echoes apology to survivors made by Taoiseach on behalf of the Government
• Certificates will confirm in writing that survivors of industrial schools do not have a criminal record

25 February 2026

The Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O’Callaghan, has expressed his deep sense of regret for the suffering experienced by those detained in industrial schools, and he has confirmed in the Dáil that survivors of these schools do not have a criminal record.

The Minister was speaking following an apology made by the Taoiseach Micheál Martin today on behalf of the Government.

Minister O’Callaghan said:

“The State did not and does not regard individuals as having committed a criminal offence, and that no criminal record is recorded against them, by virtue of their detention in any industrial school.

“With regard to children who were detained in industrial schools and who were subsequently transferred to a reformatory school solely by virtue of their detention in the industrial school, they are likewise not considered to have had any criminal record.

“No person and, in particular, no agency of the State, should regard these individuals as having committed a criminal offence, or having a criminal record.”

The Minister added that individuals who wish to have further confirmation can be provided with a written certificate.

Individual certificates can be issued to survivors, on a case-by-case basis, including posthumously, following receipt and review of records.  The process for obtaining a certificate will be put in place by the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration as soon as possible. In the first instance, survivors of industrial and reformatory schools who wish to obtain their records for the purposes of seeking such a certificate should email survivorsupports@education.gov.ie

The first four of these certificates have been prepared for a group of industrial school survivors, and will be issued by the Minister.

Minister O’Callaghan added,

“I would like to express my sincere sympathies to those who experienced detention in industrial schools, and hope that confirmation that the State does not consider these individuals to have a criminal record is a small but meaningful acknowledgement of the need to repair this harm.”

A copy of the Minister’s statement can be found here.

Ireland has become a key hub for South American cartels transporting cocaine to Europe

Gardaí will to strengthen operational ties with Colombian police as part of an intensified strategy to target gangs trafficking cocaine into Europe.

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan is expected to seek government approval today for An Garda Síochána to enter into a new memorandum of understanding with Colombia’s National Police.

The move is aimed at increasing the exchange of intelligence on transnational gangs between both police forces, while also sharing technologies and methods to target serious crime and terrorism.

Ireland has become a key transit hub for crime groups transporting cocaine from South America to Europe through maritime routes, with Irish criminals involved in facilitating the network here, even if the drugs are not ultimately destined for the Irish market.

“High-level” Irish criminals have travelled to South America

Sources have said that in recent years, Irish gangs have forged “more direct links” with drug cartels, with “high-level” Irish criminals travelling to South America to directly organise drug shipments.

Under the proposed agreement between gardaí and the Colombian police, senior detectives from both countries would be appointed to liaise directly on intelligence and operational matters.

The protocol is also expected to allow for joint enforcement actions targeting organised crime networks, including drug trafficking and terrorism financing.

While the memorandum of understanding would not be legally binding, it would be based on mutual co-operation and is expected to initially operate for five years.

A garda liaison officer based out of the Irish embassy in Bogota will also form a key aspect of the agreement.

The move follows the introduction of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024, which requires government approval before gardaí can enter formal agreements with foreign law-enforcement agencies.

Mr O’Callaghan is expected to tell the Cabinet today that Ireland is strongly reliant on international co-operation to successfully target an array of threats from transnational crime and terrorism.

The minister will also inform his colleagues that a new memorandum of understanding between An Garda Síochána and the Colombian National Police would be beneficial and strengthen co-operation between both police agencies.

In 2020, the Government sanctioned the roll-out of a three-year expansion plan for the garda liaison network to increase the global footprint of An Garda Síochána in line with best international practice on combating transnational crime.

This saw garda liaison posts created in Washington DC and Bogota, with the authority and responsibility to liaise with local law enforcement of the countries in which they are based.

The most recent high-profile example of Irish crime groups operating with South American cartels came in 2023, when €157m of cocaine was seized on board the MV Matthew off the Cork coast.

The 2.2-tonne drug haul had been supplied by the Colombian Clan del Golfo cartel, with the Kinahan organised crime group also heavily involved in facilitating the shipment.

The shipment was intercepted that September following a joint operation involving gardaí, the Defence Forces and Revenue, along with assistance from Interpol and Europol.

JUSTICE MINISTER JIM O’Callaghan secured government approval for a disregard scheme to be set up for certain historical convictions relating to consensual same-sex activity. 

The measure, which is included in the programme for government, has been promised for some time now following extensive campaigning from the LQBTQ+ community. 

Speaking to reporters today outside Government Buildings, the minister said the process to get a conviction disregarded will operate as an application-based scheme.

“The Victorian-era laws that criminalised consensual sexual activity between men are now rightly recognised as a historical injustice,” he said. 

He added: “I am extremely pleased that the Government has agreed to my proposals for a statutory disregard scheme which seeks to acknowledge this injustice and to address meaningfully some of the harm caused to affected gay men, as well as their families and friends, during the period of criminalisation.”

The new scheme applies in respect of men who are convicted of historic homosexual offences prior to 1993 and the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland.

Under this scheme, the minister will appoint an independent reviewer, and individuals, who have been convicted of these offences will be able to apply to the independent reviewer to have their convictions disregarded .

The minister said he is conscious that many of the men who were convicted are now deceased, so the disregard scheme will also allow for their families to apply.

“It will go down to the generation of grand nieces or grand nephews. I believe it’s a fair scheme, and it takes into account the historic injustice that was done to many men in Ireland since 1922,” said the minister. 

The Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Jim O’Callaghan has today welcomed the progress of Garda Operation Moonridge which is successfully identifying and deporting non-Irish nationals convicted of sexual crimes.

‘Operation Moonridge’ commenced in 2025 targeting highly dangerous non-Irish nationals in the State. The operation involves identifying and locating convicted sex offenders of interest to the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) for consideration for an EU Removal Order or deportation. 

To date, a total of 25 sex offenders have now been removed from the State.

This consists of 14 non-EU nationals and 11 EU nationals who are now all subject to exclusion periods from Ireland.

Minister Jim O’Callaghan has welcomed the significant progress of this ongoing Garda operation.

“This work being undertaken by specialised units within An Garda Síochána is critical for the protection of people and for building public confidence in Ireland’s immigration system.

“I am implementing a rules-based migration system which means if a person commits serious offences while in the State, that person will be caught and removed.

“Operation Moonridge involves extensive information sharing between the Garda National Immigration Bureau and a number of key agencies, including the Garda National Protective Services Bureau, the Garda Sex Offenders Management Intelligence Unit (SOMIU) and units within my Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. I commend all these agencies involved in this significant work.”

By using information provided by these bodies, GNIB identifies, targets and removes individuals who have committed sexual offences and do not have a lawful basis to remain in the State.

Minister of State Brophy added:

“It is a key priority for me that people who hold an immigration permission who are involved in criminality and who pose a danger to society are removed from Ireland.

“The enforcement aspect of our immigration laws are essential to ensure that our communities are kept safe.

“I would like to acknowledge the hard work of both An Garda Síochána and officials from my Department who work together tirelessly to ensure that such people are removed from the State.”

Operation Moonridge remains ongoing.