A woman whose sons were murdered by their father has said she remains “hopeful” the Government will introduce domestic homicide reviews (DHRs), after concerns the inquiries could take more than six years to start.
Plans to introduce familicide and domestic violence death reviews in Ireland have stalled amid concerns from both Government and bereaved families about how they might work.
Officials in the Department of Justice have been distancing themselves from some of the recommendations in a landmark independent study that called for the establishment of DHRs in Ireland.
The Study on Familicide & Domestic and Family Violence Death Reviews, which was published in 2023, followed public calls from the family of Clodagh Hawe and other domestic homicide survivors for reform of the way Irish authorities respond to these crimes.
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The final report called on the Government to introduce DHRs, which are in place in the UK.
The reviews bring a number of agencies together to try to understand how and why a person has been killed during an incident of domestic violence. They are intended to identify systemic failings but they are not tasked with apportioning blame.
Kathleen Chada, whose sons Eoghan (10) and Ruairí (five) were murdered by their father Sanjeev Chada in 2013, is a member of the family forum group that has been working with the Department of Justice on proposed DHRs.
Ms Chada said bereaved families believe Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan still supports DHRs but the process “is ongoing”.
“Much as we would like this to happen faster, we are still hopeful,” she said.
Last year the Department of Justice held regular meetings with three different forums as part of its plans to introduce DHRs. The first was with families who have been bereaved by domestic homicide, the second was with NGOs including Women’s Aid and the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, and the third with stakeholders such as An Garda Síochana, Tusla and the DPP.
Minutes of those meetings released under Freedom of Information show that that a senior official at the Department of Justice said“a review cannot take place until criminal, civil and coroner proceedings are complete”.
Families bereaved by domestic homicides had been “surprised to learn that this can take up to five to six years”.
Other Department of Justice records said families were “discouraged” by this.
At a meeting with NGOs in September 2024 some raised concerns with the Department of Justice about a review taking place “so many years down the line”. The meeting was attended by Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Women’s Aid and Barnardos among other groups.
“The process could retraumatise bereaved family members, especially children who will have been much younger at the time of the incident,” the minutes of the meeting said.
There was also some uncertainty about when a review would be triggered and it was not clear if the recommendations following a DHR would be legally enforceable.
The 2023 report recommended that the Office of the Ombudsman would lead DHRsbut records held by the Department of Justice showed uncertainty among officials about whetherthe Ombudsman would be open to this. In a letter from the Department of Justice to the Office of the Ombudsman last November officials said all of the more than 200 recommendations in the final report “do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice”.
It is understood an interim report on plans to introduce DHRs has been prepared for Mr O’Callaghan. The Minister also met the family forum group earlier this year.
