Harassment, threatening behaviour and stalking charges in Ireland

A harassment charge is different from most District Court charges because it is about a pattern. Section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 looks at conduct over time, aimed at one person, that seriously interfered with their life. The Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023 added a separate stalking offence for conduct that caused fear or serious distress, and the court can make orders that outlast any sentence.

This guide covers section 10 harassment, the new stalking offence, section 6 threatening behaviour under the Public Order Act, the related offences, bail conditions, what the court can impose, and the orders it can make. For the civil order a person can apply for without a prosecution, read the civil restraining order guide.

Section 10: harassment

Under section 10 a person who, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, harasses another by persistently following, watching, pestering, besetting or communicating with or about them is guilty of an offence. The words "or about" were added by the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020, so that persistent posting about someone online is covered as well as messaging them directly.

The section then defines harassment. A person harasses another where, intentionally or recklessly, their acts seriously interfere with the other's peace and privacy or cause alarm, distress or harm, and a reasonable person would realise that the acts would have that effect. Two elements are often contested at a hearing: whether the conduct was persistent, which means more than a single incident, and whether it crossed the line from unwelcome into seriously interfering.

Section 10 is an either-way offence. In the District Court the maximum is a Class A fine under the Fines Act 2010, up to €5,000, and/or imprisonment for up to 12 months. On indictment the maximum is 10 years, raised from 7 by the 2020 Act.

The stalking offence

The 2023 Act inserted a stalking offence into the 1997 Act, alongside section 10. A person commits it who, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, engages in conduct towards another that causes that person to fear that violence will be used against them or someone connected to them, or that causes them serious alarm or distress with a substantial adverse effect on their usual day-to-day activities, where the person intended that result or was reckless as to it.

The conduct can be any of the things section 10 lists and more: following, watching, loitering, interfering with property, communicating, or being near the other person's home or work. Unlike section 10 it does not require persistence in the same way; what it requires is the effect on the other person and the state of mind behind it.

Stalking is also an either-way offence: the District Court's twelve-month ceiling summarily, and up to 10 years on indictment. Stalking is not on the Adult Caution Scheme's list, and neither is harassment.

Section 6: threatening behaviour

Many cases that start as a complaint of harassment are charged, in the end, as threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour under section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994: words or behaviour in a public place with intent to provoke a breach of the peace or being reckless as to whether one is provoked. It is a single-incident offence, it carries a Class D fine, up to €1,000, and/or up to 3 months, and it is on the Adult Caution list. The public order guide covers it.

Related offences

Three other charges appear with or instead of harassment:

The 2020 Act is the one people call Coco's Law. Its offences are tried in the District Court where the DPP (see the glossary) directs summary disposal, and the twelve-month ceiling applies there.

Arrest, the station and bail

Harassment and stalking are arrestable offences, so a garda can arrest without a warrant. You are entitled to a solicitor at the station, the Garda Station Legal Advice Revised Scheme pays for that advice if you are on a social welfare payment or earn under €20,316 gross a year, and you are not obliged to say anything. Phones and devices are commonly seized.

Bail on a harassment or stalking charge is decided under the Bail Act 1997, and it is where these cases differ most from an ordinary summary charge. The conditions the court imposes almost always include:

• no contact with the complainant by any means, direct or indirect, including through friends or family or any online account;
• stay away from the complainant's home, workplace or a named area;
• sometimes a curfew, a condition to sign on at a Garda station, or a condition about devices or social media.

Breaching a condition can lead to arrest and the revocation of bail, and a single message sent on bail is the end of any argument in mitigation. Failing to appear is a separate offence. The bail guide explains conditions and how to apply to vary them.

What the District Court can impose

Where the DPP directs summary disposal and the judge accepts jurisdiction, the court's maximum on either charge is a Class A fine and/or 12 months. Within that it may:

• dismiss the charge under section 1(1) of the Probation of Offenders Act 1907 without a conviction, which is less common on a harassment charge than on a one-off public order charge, but available;
• bind you to the peace on a bond, which is not a conviction (see the peace bond guide);
• convict and fine you within Class A after considering your means;
• impose community service, a suspended sentence under section 99 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, or an immediate sentence of up to 12 months.

What the court weighs is the length and nature of the conduct, its effect on the complainant, whether it continued after a warning or on bail, your plea, your record, any probation report, and whether you have taken steps to address what drove it. A suspended sentence with conditions is a common outcome where the conduct has stopped; the court may impose an immediate sentence where it has not.

The orders the court can make

Section 10 gives the court a power most summary charges do not carry. Where a person is convicted of harassment, the court may, in addition to or instead of any other penalty, order them not to communicate by any means with the other person, and not to approach within such distance as the court specifies of the other person's home or workplace, for such period as the court specifies. The 2023 Act extends the same power to the stalking offence. Breaching the order is an offence in itself.

The order is separate from any bail condition and from any sentence. It can run for years, and it is enforced by the Garda. If you are made subject to one, read it with your solicitor before you leave the courthouse, because the distance and the places it names matter.

Legal aid and the hearing

Both charges carry custody, so the gravity test in the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962 can be met. Ask the judge for legal aid at the first appearance, before anything else, and hand up the statement of means. On a not guilty plea, ask for a Gary Doyle order so that you have the statements, the messages the prosecution relies on and any phone evidence before the hearing; the disclosure guide explains how. Harassment hearings turn on records: screenshots, call logs, dates. Keep your own.

The record afterwards

A conviction for harassment or stalking is a criminal record on the Garda PULSE system. Under the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures) Act 2016 a District Court conviction can become spent seven years after the effective date where the sentence was a fine, a bond, community service, a suspended sentence or custody of twelve months or less, and it counts as the one conviction a person can have spent. A sentence of more than twelve months, which only the Circuit Court can impose, never becomes spent. The spent convictions guide sets out the dates and what Garda vetting shows; a section 10 order is disclosed for as long as it runs.

Where this leaves you

A harassment or stalking charge carries custody in either court, and the bail conditions start on day one. Read them, keep to them, and gather your own records. Use the legal aid check to see how the means test applies, because the gravity test is already met on these charges.

If you may qualify for legal aid, ask the judge for it at your first appearance; the legal aid page explains the statement of means. If you would rather instruct someone privately, the solicitor page explains how to find a solicitor who takes District Court criminal work.