Step 4
Attend court hearing for immediate domestic violence order
Soon after completing your paperwork, court office staff will arrange for you to make your application to a judge at a court hearing. This could be on the same day or within a day or two. In some District Court areas, the hearing could be in the same building. You may ask to be accompanied to the hearing by a support worker, if you wish.
Most applications are heard 'ex parte'. This means that your court hearing can go ahead without the respondent being notified in advance and without them being present in the courtroom.
Your application will be heard in private. Only a small number of people are allowed in the courtroom with you. These include: the judge, a court registrar, your support worker (if allowed), your legal representative (solicitor or barrister, or both) and a member of An Garda Síochána.
Alternatively, you can request permission to give evidence remotely by video-link. The judge will decide whether it is appropriate to allow this.
The judge will read your information form but they may also ask you for more information to help them make a decision.
The judge will make a decision on your application. There are three possible decisions:
- The Order is granted. This means they agree to give you the temporary order that you applied for. It also means you can continue to apply for a long-term Safety Order or Barring Order, or both. You will receive a copy of the court order. The court order comes into effect once the respondent is made aware that the order has been made. If the respondent was in court when it was made, they are considered notified. If the respondent was not in court, the judge will decide who will serve the documents on the respondent. This will be either the Courts Service or the Gardaí. You may have contact with the respondent before the documents are served. If it is safe to do so, you should make the respondent aware that an order has been made and give them a copy of the order. By doing this, the respondent is considered to be notified. You will also receive a court summons. This is a notification for you and the respondent to appear in court at a future date for the full hearing of the application.
- The Short-term order is refused. However, they do allow you to apply for a long-term Safety Order or Barring Order, or both.
- All orders are refused. This means they do not agree to grant the temporary order you are applying for or the long-term Safety Order or Barring Order, or both.