Valerie's Law

Killing a mother is child abuse and for the children's sake these abusers should not retain their parental guardianship rights.

"Valerie's Law" is the name given to the proposed legislation to remove Child Guardianship Rights from parents who are convicted of the murder or manslaughter of the other parent.

This law reform proposal is being taken in Ireland following the murder of Valerie French by her husband and mirrors similar legislation in other countries.

7.3.18.4 It is therefore recommended that the Child and Family Relationships Act 2015, or other relevant legislation, must be amended to ensure that a parent convicted of the murder or manslaughter of the other parent does not retain guardianship of the surviving child or children.

The recommendation can be found on Page 345 (378/488) of this government report from 2023.

Study on Familicide & Domestic and Family Violence Death Reviews

The recommendation has been repeated in the "Interim Report on the Consultation Process related to recommendations made under the Study on Familicide & Domestic and Family Violence Death Reviews 2024".

The recommendation has been repeated in the 2025 Programme for Government as: 

"Examine proposals to remove guardianship rights from those convicted of killing their partners or a parent of their child as part of the ongoing work to implement appropriate recommendations from the Study on Familicide and Domestic and Family Violence Death Reviews.".

This is the Draft General Scheme for the legislation.

Social Democrats Private Member's Bill on Guardianship Law Reform

Discussions on this topic in the Dail.