· Priority areas include expanding refuge accommodation, advancing legislative reform, and cross-sectoral training initiatives for frontline professionals
· There are 95 actions in total across the strategy’s four pillars of protection, prevention, prosecution and policy co-ordination
· A robust monitoring and reporting framework establishes performance indicators to track progress and understand impact
24 June 2025
The Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O’Callaghan, has published a targeted implementation plan for the final phase of Zero Tolerance, the Third National Strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV).
The implementation plan contains 95 actions across the strategy’s four pillars of Protection, Prevention, Prosecution and Policy Co-ordination, with a strong focus on delivery and collective action to 2026.
The DSGBV Agency Cuan worked in collaboration with officials from the Department of Justice and in close consultation with other Government Departments, state agencies and external stakeholders to develop the plan for 2025-2026.
Minister Jim O’Callaghan said:
“This final implementation plan for the Third National Strategy draws directly from insights gained through ongoing monitoring and progress reporting by Cuan. It provides a focused roadmap to deliver on the whole-of-government commitment to a zero-tolerance approach to DSGBV.
“This is a plan focused on delivery, accountability and ensuring that we continue the momentum and focus on this issue.
“I am committed to building on what has already been achieved, and to strengthening implementation and identifying the actions we need to take now and where we need to go next to prepare a clear pathway toward the Fourth National Strategy.”
Priority areas include continuing national leadership and cross government alignment, expanding refuge accommodation, delivering a comprehensive national emergency domestic violence accommodation plan, and advancing legislative reform. That legislative reform includes removing the guardianship rights of a person who has been convicted of killing their intimate partner; developing a mechanism to ensure any person in an intimate relationship can be informed if their partner has a history of domestic violence; and advancing provisions to ensure counselling records are only released where the Court decides that they contain material relevant to legal proceedings.
Minister O’Callaghan added:
“The government is delivering on the commitments in the Zero Tolerance Strategy to achieve a society where sexual violence, and the toxic attitudes that fuel it, are not accepted. Under the Strategy we’ve already introduced a range of legal reforms to help achieve this and other legislative measures that I am progressing will deliver a clear message that sexual abuse and sexual violence will not be tolerated, that survivors will be supported and perpetrators will be held accountable.”
The plan also includes actions to continue to deliver impactful awareness campaigns on sexual consent and pathways to safety, and a comprehensive set of training actions to upskill frontline professionals across the health and social care sector, DSGBV services, the judiciary, courts and other justice agencies.
The development of the plan was collaborative and evidence informed, involving research and a review of implementation to date, followed by in-depth consultations with Government departments and state agencies. It takes an intersectional approach, ensuring that actions and outcomes are responsive to the diverse and overlapping identities of victims and survivors of DSGBV, supported by the development and establishment of survivor-centred structures to ensure that victim/survivor voice is heard. The work to develop foundational structures, build networks and relationships lays the groundwork for beginning the transition to a Fourth National Strategy on DSGBV.
Dr Stephanie O’Keeffe, CEO of Cuan, said:
“This final phase shows how seriously we take implementation. The new framework gives us a clearer line of sight on what’s being delivered, what impact it’s having, and where greater focus is needed.
“However, this is not just about measuring activity – it’s also about assessing real impact, understanding the challenges in implementing a strategy with over 20 partner organisations and continuously improving our collective response. The inclusion of survivor perspectives is a key strength of this approach.”
Also published today is the second 2024 Progress Report, covering the period July to December 2024, which highlights continued progress across government and the sector in implementing the Zero Tolerance strategy.
Notable achievements during the reporting period include:
• Expanding emergency accommodation capacity including launch of a state-of-the-art refuge facility in Wexford and strengthening the pipeline for refuge and safe home expansion
• Reform of the Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) Curriculum to empower students to be healthy and resilient young adults who have the skills and confidence to nurture healthy relationships
• Expansion of services for children and young people experiencing domestic or sexual violence, with €17m in funding distributed to 60 services supporting children and young people
• Enactment of the Family Courts Act 2024 providing for the establishment of family court divisions within the existing court structures including a Family High Court, a Family Circuit Court and a Family District Court
• Supporting the Game Changer campaign, a three-year initiative led by Ruhama, in partnership with the GAA and the Men’s Development Network, using sports-based advocacy to raise awareness of gender-based violence.
• Convening of a National Consent Forum
• Engagement with the Central Statistics Office (CSO) to scope the development of a Domestic Violence survey to commence in 2025.
The 2025–2026 implementation plan and the Second Progress Report (2024) are available at:
https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/Zero_Tolerance_Implementation_Plan_2025-2026.pdf
