2. (1) In this Act—

“Act of 1960” means the Criminal Justice Act 1960;

“Act of 1993” means the Criminal Justice Act 1993;

“Act of 2001” means the Children Act 2001;

“Act of 2005” means the Garda Síochána Act 2005;

“Act of 2006” means the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006;

“Act of 2010” means the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010;

“assessment” has the meaning assigned to it by section 15;

“child”, other than in the definition of family member, means a person under the age of 18 years;

“children detention school” has the same meaning as it has in section 3 of the Act of 2001;

“civil partner” means a person in a civil partnership or legal relationship to which section 3 of the Act of 2010 applies;

“clinical director” has the meaning assigned to it in section 1 of the Act of 2006;

“cohabitant” means a cohabitant within the meaning of section 172(1) of the Act of 2010;

“complaint”, other than in section 7(1)(l), means a statement made by a person orally or in writing, including by electronic means, to a member of the Garda Síochána or an officer of the Ombudsman Commission alleging that the person, or another person, has been the victim of an offence;

“designated centre” shall be construed in accordance with section 3 of the Act of 2006;

“director of a children detention school” means a person who has been appointed under section 180 of the Act of 2001 and who is responsible for the immediate control and supervision of a children detention school;

“enactment” has the same meaning as it has in the Interpretation Act 2005;

“family member”, in relation to a victim, means—

(a) a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the victim,

(b) a child or step-child of the victim,

(c) a parent or grandparent of the victim,

(d) a brother, sister, half brother or half sister of the victim,

(e) a grandchild of the victim,

(f) an aunt, uncle, nephew or niece of the victim, and

(g) any other person—

(i) who is or, where the victim is deceased, was dependent on the victim, or

(ii) who a court, a member of the Garda Síochána, an officer of the Ombudsman Commission, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Irish Prison Service, a director of a children detention school or a clinical director of a designated centre, as the case may be, considers has or, where the victim is deceased, had a sufficiently close connection with the victim as to warrant his or her being treated as a family member;

“Irish Prison Service” means the prison service of the Department of Justice and Equality, which is charged with the management of prisons within the meaning of section 2 of the Prisons Act 2007;

“member of staff of a children detention school” means—

(a) a person who is appointed as a member of staff of a children detention school under section 181 of the Act of 2001, and

(b) a person who became such a member of staff pursuant to section 182 of that Act;

“member of the Garda Síochána” has the same meaning as it has in section 3 of the Act of 2005;

“Minister” means the Minister for Justice and Equality;

“officer of the Ombudsman Commission” means—

(a) a person who is appointed, or becomes an officer of the Ombudsman Commission, under section 71 of the Act of 2005, and

(b) a person who is engaged by the Ombudsman Commission pursuant to an arrangement under section 74 of that Act;

“officer of the Director of Public Prosecutions” means a person who is appointed to be an officer or servant of the Director of Public Prosecutions under section 2(11) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1974;

“Ombudsman Commission” means the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission established under section 64 of the Act of 2005;

“protection measure” means a measure which is intended to safeguard the safety and welfare of a victim by limiting or preventing contact with, or repeat victimisation, retaliation or intimidation of, the victim by an alleged offender or any other person on his or her behalf and includes:

(a) advice regarding the personal safety of the victim;

(b) advice regarding the protection of the property of the victim;

F1[(c) advice regarding safety orders, barring orders, interim barring orders, emergency barring orders and protection orders within the meaning of the Domestic Violence Act 2018;]

(d) advice regarding orders made under section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997, section 101 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 and section 26 or 26A of the Criminal Justice Act 2007;

(e) an application to remand the alleged offender in custody; and

(f) an application that any admission of an alleged offender to bail be subject to conditions;

“restorative justice scheme” means any scheme administered for the time being under which, with the consent of each of them, a victim and an offender or alleged offender engage with each other to resolve, with the assistance of an impartial third party, matters arising from the offence or alleged offence;

“secondary victimisation” means victimisation that occurs indirectly through the response of institutions and individuals to the victim;

“special measure” means a measure referred to in section 17 or 19;

“specific protection need” means a particular need of a victim which is identified by an assessment;

“victim” means a natural person who has suffered harm, including physical, mental or emotional harm or economic loss, which was directly caused by an offence.

(2) Subject to section 3, a reference to a victim in this Act shall, where the death of a victim is caused directly by an offence, be construed as a reference to a family member provided that the family member concerned has not been charged with, or is not under investigation for, an offence in connection with the death of the victim.

(3) Where the age of a victim is uncertain but there is reason to believe that the victim is a child, he or she shall be presumed to be a child for the purposes of this Act, unless the contrary is proved.

(4) For convenience of expression, where, in this Act, a reference is made to “Garda Síochána” (and the context is the whole or part of that police force) a construction employing the singular form is used.