It’s back to the polling booths on divorce
TAKING place on the same day as the local and European elections, the Regulation of Divorce referendum will ask the public to vote on reducing the four-year wait for divorce to two years.
At the moment the Constitution only permits divorce in instances where the spouses have lived apart for four of the previous five years. The new proposals would reduce that to two years out of the previous three.
If the referendum passes, other restrictions on divorce will continue to be applied: A court will be the only body entitled to grant a divorce, and only when there is no prospect of reconciliation and proper provision exists for spouses and children in the event of a divorce.
This of course is not the first time the Irish public have been asked to vote on the subject of divorce, with two-high profile referendums taking place in 1986 and 1995. In the former, the proposed introduction of divorce into Irish law was strongly rejected by the electorate with 63.5% of those polled voting against it. Almost a decade later Ireland became the last country in Europe to lift its ban on divorce, the law passing by the narrowest of margins with 50.28% of Irish people in favour. Currently Ireland has the lowest rate of divorce in Europe with the latest data revealing that less than 1% of Irish marriages are dissolved. However, those campaigning for a yes vote in the forthcoming referendum argue that this figure is somewhat misleading due to the lengthy court process involved in attaining a divorce in this country.
Locally, figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reveal that, in the year ending 2015, there were 143 divorce applications and 76 divorces granted in County Wexford. Nationwide, a total of 4,314 applications were received by the Irish courts that year with 3,289 divorces granted. Interestingly, on a per capita basis, Carlow has the highest rates of divorce in the country. Kilkenny, Leitrim and Monaghan have the lowest rates.
On May 24 voters will also be asked if they want to change the section of the constitution that does not recognise divorces registered outside the country. The poll will ask the public if they wish to see this section of the constitution deleted and replaced with wording which recognises the dissolution of marriage granted by another state.