Where is the push for greater use of ASBOs coming from?

There is a bill moving through the Oireachtas to loosen which rank of Garda can apply to the courts for “anti-social behaviour orders” – also known as ASBOs.

If it passes, inspectors would be empowered to do it, rather than superintendents. 

“This will bring increased flexibility to the making of applications for such orders,” a Justice Department spokesperson said.

The Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 “was published on 9 January 2026 and the Dáil Second Stage debate on the Bill took place on 22 January 2026”, said the spokesperson.

But exactly why the government has reached for reform of ASBOs as a response to complaints about anti-social behaviour isn’t clear.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said that it was prompted by a recommendation from the government’s expert forum on anti-social behaviour to strengthen ASBOs.

Engagement was also undertaken with An Garda Síochána, who recommended enhancing the legislation around the orders, the spokesperson said.

But the forum didn’t publish any final report. And, there is only one reference to ASBOs across the published minutes of those meetings.

Meanwhile, some question the need for these new ASBO powers.

If someone is doing something that is wrong or illegal, gardaí can already deal with this, says Ian Marder, associate professor in criminology at Maynooth University. 

“An ASBO is just a British paperwork exercise for generating stats,” says Paul Comerford, a retired garda.

The rise and fall of ASBOs

ASBOs are court-administered behavioural control orders against adults and children.

They are served after the initial terms of an anti-social behaviour warning (ASBW) – an official warning to cease certain activity which can be given by a rank-and-file garda without going through court – have been defied.

ASBOs originated in the UK, where they were brought in in 1998 under Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Introduced in Ireland in 2007, figures show that ASBWs and ASBOs in Dublin in recent years have been relatively rare. 

There were either zero, or less than 10, ASBWs and ASBOs issued to children in five of six Dublin Garda districts in 2024 – plus 24 issued in the Western division, according to figures sent by the Department of Justice to Cormac Devlin, a Fianna Fáil TD, in response to a parliamentary question last year.

Comerford, the retired Garda, says that when people want an immediate remedy to a problem like anti-social behaviour, ASBWs and ASBOs aren’t going to do it – that’s really only going to come from arrests. “The Public Order Act is more effective.”

But local councils like them as it gives them statistics to use against repeat offenders on their housing estates, he says.

A spokesperson for the Justice Department said that while ASBWs and ASBOs provide a response to the behaviour of an individual, they do not address the reasons behind the behaviour.

An expert forum

The current programme for government includes a commitment to “enact legislation to combat anti-social behaviour, including enhancing the use of Anti-Social Behaviour Warnings (ASBWs) and Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs)”.

The move is based on the recommendation of the expert forum on anti-social behaviour, said the Department of Justice spokesperson. 

The forum was set up in 2020. 

It was to review the powers available to An Garda Síochána in relation to public order and anti-social behaviour, the Justice Department spokesperson said, and “to include the effectiveness of ASBOs”.

But there is no paper trail showing any recommendation to double down on ASBOs.

Minutes show that the forum met 10 times between October 2020 and October 2024, which was their final meeting.

There is only one reference to ASBOs across the published minutes.

That came up in April 2024 from Richard Guiney, CEO of Dublin Town, the business collective.

The minutes read: “Richard Guiney first spoke on the effectiveness of anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) in deterring young people from participating in ASB.”

“While he did note that ASBOs are currently difficult for AGS to apply and streamlining the procedures associated with them would be beneficial.”

He also argued that young people can be more fearful of ASBOs than a prison sentence, the minutes show.

Amy Carey, CEO of the Solas Project, the Liberties-based youth work organisation, also sat on the forum.

She does not recall any meaningful discussion about ASBOs at any of the meetings she attended, she said.

On Thursday on the phone, Guiney said that sending people to prison is not the right solution a lot of the time but there must be sanctions for behaviour that negatively impacts others.

An ASBO isn't an end in itself, he says. “When somebody is served one, we have a responsibility to put supports around that person,” says Guiney.

It should be an opportunity for them to consider the impact their actions have on the community, he said. “Kind of a restorative justice element.”

ASBOs can involve an order to stay away from an area. This points to another potential benefit, he says.

It could be an opportunity to take a young person out of a situation where they may be hanging around with negative influences, the Dublin Town CEO says. “Before they get themselves into longer-term trouble.”

ASBO empire

While still used in Scotland, ASBOs – at least in their original guise – are no longer used in Northern Ireland, Wales or England.

They were officially abolished under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

But the ASBO template has been expanded across the legal system, according to a report from JUSTICE, a charity championing UK justice reform.

A 2023 report from the organisation listed more than 30 types of behaviour-control orders.

Each one targeted a different issue: football hooliganism, domestic abuse, stalking.

Successive UK governments have failed to produce robust evidence that behaviour orders are effective at dealing with the issues they aim to tackle, the report says.

They are also applied inconsistently across the country, it says.

The result is a patchwork system in which the number of orders imposed, the behaviours targeted and the restrictions applied vary widely, it says. Several contributors described this as “personalised penal codes” or “ad hominem criminalisation”.

Some orders have been used to address relatively minor conduct. 

The report cites examples such as closing a door too loudly, swearing, drinking alcohol on trains to a football match, or wearing a bikini in one’s own garden— raising concerns about “criminalisation creep”.

“Moreover, whilst Behavioural Control Orders are meant to provide access to interventions, programmes and positive diversions – a lack of resources and available services often mean that this cannot take place,” the report says.

The report also warns that orders under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 disproportionately affect vulnerable groups, like homeless people – despite evidence that they are more often victims than perpetrators of anti-social behaviour.

The report also criticises a lack of central data collection and evaluation, arguing there is no clear mechanism to measure effectiveness.

Ashling Golden, the justice programme manager at the Solas Project, said last month that an issue she sees in Ireland is that somebody can end up with a criminal record for a non-criminal offence.

“You could be done for an anti-social issue, and then you don't comply with the rules of the order, which could result in you being brought before the courts for the breach of the order,” says Golden.

Marder, the criminologist, says that solid, positive work has already begun in terms of growing youth diversion projects in Ireland. With more pathways gradually opening up for young people who are at risk of drifting into criminality and exploitation.

As such, he doesn’t see a need for more ASBOs here.

Looking across the Irish sea at the state of behaviour orders there, Marder isn’t impressed. “It’s a fucking disaster.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.