2. (1) In this Act—

“Act of 1964” means the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964;

“Act of 1976” means the Family Home Protection Act 1976;

“Act of 1991” means the Child Care Act 1991;

“Act of 1995” means the Family Law Act 1995;

“Act of 1996” means the Domestic Violence Act 1996;

“Act of 2004” means the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004;

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

“Act of 2013” means the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013;

“Agency” means the Child and Family Agency;

“applicant” has the meaning assigned to it by section 6, section 7 or section 9, as the case may be, and where—

(a) an interim barring order has been made the applicant for the barring order to whom the interim barring order relates shall be deemed to be the applicant for that interim barring order, and

(b) a protection order has been made the applicant for the safety order or the barring order to whom the protection order relates shall be deemed to be the applicant for that protection order;

“barring order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 7(2);

“child” means a person who has not attained the age of 18 years other than a person who is or has been married;

“civil partner” has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 of the Act of 2010 and for the purposes of this Act includes a person who was a civil partner in a civil partnership that has been dissolved under the Act of 2010 but does not include a person who was in a civil partnership that has been dissolved by reason only of the application of section 109A of the Act of 2010;

“civil proceedings under this Act” means—

(a) proceedings relating to an application for the making, variation or discharge of a safety order, a barring order or an emergency barring order,

(b) proceedings, consequent on the making of an application for a barring order, for the making, variation or discharge of an interim barring order which relates to the application,

(c) proceedings, consequent on the making of an application for a safety order or a barring order, for the making, variation or discharge of a protection order which relates to the application,

(d) proceedings by way of appeal or case stated which are related to proceedings to which paragraph (a), (b) or (c) applies;

“court” means the District Court or the Circuit Court;

“dependent person”, in relation to the applicant or the respondent or both of them, as the case may be, means any child—

(a) of the applicant and the respondent or in respect of whom the applicant and the respondent are in loco parentis,

(b) of the applicant or in respect of whom the applicant is in loco parentis, or

(c) of the respondent or in respect of whom the respondent is in loco parentis and—

(i) where the child is a child of the respondent, the applicant is in loco parentis to that child, or

(ii) where the respondent is in loco parentis to the child, that child is a child of the applicant,

who is not of full age, or, if the child has attained full age is suffering from a mental or physical disability to such an extent that it is not reasonably possible for him or her to live independently of the applicant;

“emergency barring order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9(3);

“full age” has the same meaning as it has in the Age of Majority Act 1985;

“interim barring order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 8(1);

“Minister” means the Minister for Justice and Equality;

“prohibited degree of relationship” shall be construed in accordance with subsection (2);

“protection order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 10(1);

“respondent” has the meaning assigned to it by section 6, section 7 or section 9, as the case may be, and where—

(a) an interim barring order has been made the respondent to the application for the barring order to which the interim barring order relates shall be deemed to be the respondent to that interim barring order, and

(b) a protection order has been made the respondent to the application for the safety order or the barring order to which the protection order relates shall be deemed to be the respondent to that protection order;

“safety order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 6(2);

“specified order” means—

(a) a safety order, barring order, interim barring order, emergency barring order or protection order, or

(b) an order varying or discharging an order referred to in paragraph (a);

“spouse” includes a person who was a party to a marriage that has been dissolved, being a dissolution that is recognised as valid in the State;

“welfare” includes physical and psychological welfare.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, two people are related to each other within a prohibited degree of relationship if they would be prohibited from marrying each other in the State by reason of that relationship.

(3) For the avoidance of doubt, a relationship does not cease to be an intimate relationship for the purposes of this Act by reason only that it is no longer sexual in nature.