Harassment & Coercion

NON-FATAL OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON ACT 1997

REVISED

Updated to 1 November 2023

AN ACT TO REVISE THE LAW RELATING TO THE MAIN NON-FATAL OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON AND TO PROVIDE FOR CONNECTED MATTERS. [19th May, 1997]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:

Annotations

Modifications (not altering text):

C1
Application of Act extended (28.06.2000) by Criminal Justice (Safety of United Nations Workers) Act 2000 (16/2000), s. 2 and sch. 2, commenced on enactment.

Offences against United Nations workers.

2.—Where a person does outside the State an act to, or in relation to, a United Nations worker that, if done in the State, would constitute an offence specified in Part I of the Second Schedule, he or she shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to the penalty to which he or she would have been liable if he or she had done the act in the State.

…

SECOND SCHEDULE

Section 2

PART I

…

Non-fatal offences

4. Any offence under the following provisions of the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act, 1997 —

(a) section 2 (assault);

(b) section 3 (assault causing harm);

(c) section 4 (assault causing serious harm);

(d) section 5 (threats to kill or cause serious harm);

(e) section 12 (poisoning);

(f) section 13 (endangerment);

(g) section 15 (false imprisonment).

…

Editorial Notes:

E1
Some other legislation refers to offences under this Act as disqualifying or potentially disqualifying offences, or as otherwise meriting certain treatment. They include:

• Greyhound Racing Act 2019 (15/2019), ss. 9, 44

• Criminal Law (Extraterritorial Jurisdiction) Act 2019 (6/2019), s. 1

• Domestic Violence Act 2018 (6/2018), s. 40

• European Union (Passenger Name Record Data) Regulations 2018 (S.I. No. 177 of 2018)

• Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017 (28/2017), s. 2(1)

• Taxi Regulation Act 2013 (37/2013), ss. 10, 30, 31 and sch. part 2

• National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 (47/2012), s. 14A and schs. 2, 3

• Criminal Justice (Withholding of Information on Offences against Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 (24/2012), ss. 2, 3 and schs. 1, 2

• Road Safety Authority (Commercial Vehicle Roadworthiness) Act 2012 (16/2012), s. 12

• Road Transport Act 2011 (31/2011), s. 2

• Broadcasting Act 2009 (18/2009), s. 139A and sch. 3

• Criminal Justice Act 2007 (29/2007), ss. 25, 26 and sch. 2, s. 50

• Criminal Justice Act 2006 (26/2006), ss. 101 and sch. 3, s. 183

• Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005 (2/2005), s. 11 and sch. 6

• Children Act 2001 (24/2001), ss. 251, 253-257 and sch. 1

• Criminal Justice Act 1993 (6/1993), s. 5

• Electoral Act 1992 (23/1992), s. 15E(2)(b)

• Criminal Evidence Act 1992 (12/1992), s. 12

• Road Traffic Act 1968 (25/1968), s. 18A and sch. 2

Interpretation.

1.—(1) In this Act—

“contaminated blood” means blood which is contaminated with any disease, virus, agent or organism which if passed into the blood stream of another could infect the other with a life threatening or potentially life threatening disease;

“contaminated fluid” means fluid or substance which is contaminated with any disease, virus, agent or organism which if passed into the blood stream of another could infect the other with a life threatening or potentially life threatening disease;

“contaminated syringe” means a syringe which has in it or on it contaminated blood or contaminated fluid;

“harm” means harm to body or mind and includes pain and unconsciousness;

“member of the family” in relation to a person, means the spouse, a child (including step-child or adopted child), grandchild, parent, grandparent, step-parent, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece of the person or any person cohabiting or residing with him or her;

“property” means property of a tangible nature, whether real or personal, including money and animals that are capable of being stolen;

“public place” includes any street, seashore, park, land or field, highway and any other premises or place to which at the material time the public have or are permitted to have access, whether on payment or otherwise, and includes any train, vessel, aircraft or vehicle used for the carriage of persons for reward;

“serious harm” means injury which creates a substantial risk of death or which causes serious disfigurement or substantial loss or impairment of the mobility of the body as a whole or of the function of any particular bodily member or organ;

“street” includes any road, bridge, lane, footway, subway, square, court, alley or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not, which is for the time being open to the public; and the doorways, entrances and gardens abutting on a street and any ground or car-park adjoining and open to a street, shall be treated as forming part of a street;

“syringe” includes any part of a syringe or a needle or any sharp instrument capable of piercing skin and passing onto or into a person blood or any fluid or substance resembling blood.

(2) For the purposes of sections 17, 18 and 19 it is immaterial whether a belief is justified or not if it is honestly held but the presence or absence of reasonable grounds for the belief is a matter to which the court or the jury is to have regard, in conjunction with any other relevant matters, in considering whether the person honestly held the belief.

(3) In this Act—

(a) a reference to any enactment shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended or extended by or under any subsequent enactment including this Act,

(b) a reference to a section is a reference to a section of this Act unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended,

(c) a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph is a reference to the subsection, paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended.

 

Coercion.

9.—(1) A person who, with a view to compel another to abstain from doing or to do any act which that other has a lawful right to do or to abstain from doing, wrongfully and without lawful authority—

(a) uses violence to or intimidates that other person or a member of the family F4[or the civil partner within the meaning of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010] of the other, or

(b) injures or damages the property of that other, or

(c) persistently follows that other about from place to place, or

(d) watches or besets the premises or other place where that other resides, works or carries on business, or happens to be, or the approach to such premises or place, or

(e) follows that other with one or more other persons in a disorderly manner in or through any public place,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) For the purpose of this section attending at or near the premises or place where a person resides, works, carries on business or happens to be, or the approach to such premises or place, in order merely to obtain or communicate information, shall not be deemed a watching or besetting within the meaning of subsection (l) (d).

(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both.

Annotations

Amendments:

F4
Inserted (1.01.2011) by Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 (24/2010), s. 170 and sch. part 5 item 17, S.I. No. 648 of 2010.

Editorial Notes:

E12
A fine of £1,500 converted (1.01.1999) to €1,904.61. This translates into a class C fine not greater than €2,500 as provided (4.01.2011) by Fines Act 2010 (8/2010), s. 6(2) and table ref. no. 1, S.I. No. 662 of 2010.

Harassment.

F5[10.—(1) A person shall be guilty of the offence of harassment where—

(a) the person, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, persistently, by his or her acts, intentionally or recklessly, at the time when the acts occur or when the other becomes aware of them—

(i) seriously interferes with another’s peace and privacy, or

(ii) causes alarm, distress or harm to the other,

and

(b) the person’s acts are such that a reasonable person would realise that the acts would seriously interfere with the other’s peace and privacy or cause alarm, distress or harm to the other, at the time when the acts occurred or when the other becomes aware of them.

(2) A person shall be guilty of the offence of stalking where—

(a) the person, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, by his or her acts, intentionally or recklessly causes another, at the time when the acts occur or when the other becomes aware of them—

(i) to fear that violence will be used against him or her or another person connected to him or her, or

(ii) serious alarm or distress that has a substantial adverse impact on his or her usual day-to-day activities,

and

(b) the person’s acts are such that a reasonable person would realise that the acts would cause the other, at the time when the acts occur or when the other becomes aware of them, to fear that violence will be used against him or her or another person connected to him or her, or serious alarm or distress that has a substantial adverse impact on his or her usual day-to-day activities.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsections (1) and (2), the acts referred to in those subsections include the following:

(a) following, watching, monitoring, tracking or spying upon a person;

(b) pestering a person;

(c) impersonating a person;

(d) communicating with or about a person;

(e) purporting to act or communicate on behalf of a person;

(f) disclosing to other persons private information in respect of a person;

(g) interfering with the property (including pets) of a person;

(h) loitering in the vicinity of a person;

(i) causing, without the consent of the person, an electronic communication or information system operated by a person to function in a particular way;

(j) breaching a court order—

(i) made pursuant to this section F6[…], or

(ii) otherwise restraining the person from communicating with or about the other person or, within such distance as is specified in the order, approaching the other or the place of residence, education or employment of the other person.

(4) Where a person is guilty of an offence under subsection (1) or (2), the court may, in addition to or as an alternative to any other penalty, order that the person shall not, for such period as the court may specify, communicate by any means with or about the other person or that the person shall not approach within such distance as the court shall specify of the place of residence, education or employment of the other person.

(5) An order under subsection (4) shall be in writing.

(6) A copy of an order under subsection (4) shall be given to—

(a) the person against whom the order is made (“the subject of the order”),

(b) the other person, referred to in subsection (4),

(c) the member of the Garda Síochána in charge of the Garda Síochána station for the area in which the person referred to in paragraph (b) resides, and

(d) if the subject of the order is sentenced to a period of imprisonment, the person for the time being in charge of the place where the subject of the order is, or is to be, imprisoned.

(7) The validity of an order under subsection (4) shall not be affected by non-compliance with subsection (6).

(8) A person who fails to comply with the terms of an order under subsection (4) shall be guilty of an offence.

(9) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1), (2) or (8) shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction to a class A fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine or a term of imprisonment not exceeding 10 years, or to both.

(10) Without prejudice to any other enactment or rule of law, a court shall, in determining the sentence to be imposed on a person for an offence under this section, treat as an aggravating factor the fact that the person has previously been convicted of an offence against the other person or a person connected with the other person.

(11) Subject to subsections (12) and (13), where subsection (10) applies the court shall impose a sentence which is greater than that which would have been imposed in the absence of such factor.

(12) Subsection (10) shall not apply where the court considers that there are exceptional circumstances justifying it not applying that subsection.

(13) The sentence imposed as a result of the application of subsection (10) shall not be greater than the maximum sentence permissible for the offence concerned.

(14) A person charged with an offence under subsection (2) may, if the evidence does not warrant a conviction for that offence but warrants a conviction under subsection (1), be found guilty of an offence under subsection (1).

(15) A reference in subsection (10) to an offence against a person includes a reference to an offence involving damage of the property of the person.]

Annotations:

Amendments:

F5
Substituted (1.11.2023) by Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023 (24/2023), s. 23, S.I. No. 525 of 2023, subject to transitional provision in s. 25 continuing existing orders under section in force.

F6
Substituted by Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023 (24/2023), s. 23, not commenced as of date of revision.

Modifications (not altering text):

C2
Prospective affecting provision: section substituted (1.11.2023) by Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023 (24/2023), s. 23, S.I. No. 525 of 2023; not fully commenced in relation to subs. (3)(j)(i) as of date of revision.

(j) breaching a court order—

(i) made pursuant to this section F6[or Part 5 of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023], or

…

Editorial Notes:

E13
Previous affecting provision: substituted (10.02.2021) by Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 (32/2020), s. 10(a)-(c), S.I. No. 53 of 2021; substituted (1.11.23) as per F-note above.

E14
A class A fine means a fine not greater than €5,000 as provided (4.01.2011) by Fines Act 2010 (8/2010), ss. 3, 4(1), S.I. No. 662 of 2010.

 

11.—(1) A person who makes any demand for payment of a debt shall be guilty of an offence if—

(a) the demands by reason of their frequency are calculated to subject the debtor or a member of the family F8[or the civil partner within the meaning of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010] of the debtor to alarm, distress or humiliation, or

(b) the person falsely represents that criminal proceedings lie for non-payment of the debt, or

(c) the person falsely represents that he or she is authorised in some official capacity to enforce payment, or

(d) the person utters a document falsely represented to have an official character.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500.