An emergency barring order is a temporary order similar to an interim barring order, meaning that the violent person is excluded from the home. The order may also prohibit the person from further violence or threats of violence, watching or being near your home, or following or communicating (including electronically) with you or a dependent person.
Unlike an interim barring order, the applicant does not have to satisfy the property test to be able to get an emergency barring order. This means the applicant does not need to own, co-own or have their name on the lease of the property.
How to apply for an emergency barring order?
If there is an emergency situation, and the District Court is not sitting at the time, a member of An Garda Síochána may ask the Courts Service to make arrangements for a judge to hear an emergency barring order, or an interim barring order/ protection order at a special sitting of the District Court out of hours. If you think there is an immediate risk to your safety or that of your children, and you know that there is no District Court sitting, you can ask a local Garda to do this for you.
If an emergency barring order is sought ex-parte (where the respondent is not present), there are additional procedural requirements – a note of evidence, copy of the emergency barring order and a copy affidavit or sworn information must be served on respondent as soon as practicable after is made ex-parte.
Any such affidavit or sworn information must state whether the home is also the violent person’s workplace, or includes or is next to their workplace.
How long does it last?
An emergency barring order can last for a maximum of 8 working days and a new emergency barring order may not be made until a month after the first one expires, unless there are “exceptional” circumstances which justify the making of a second order in that time.
Who can apply for an emergency barring order?
- Partners who live, or have lived, with each other in an “intimate relationship”, who have never been married to each other and who have never been civil partners of each other;
- Parents of an adult, non-dependent child
- Tusla, Child and Family Agency on behalf of an “aggrieved person”.
Applicants must have rights to the shared home which are less than those of the respondent. This means that spouses or civil partners may not apply for an emergency barring order, only for an interim barring order.
Other types of orders
- Barring order
- Safety order
- Protection order
- Interim barring order
- What happens when I go to court to get a domestic violence order?
Learn more about your rights.
