The Gazette 1973

41, Section 3, Subsection 3, of the Constitution. The question first arose in Mayo—Perrott's case— (1958) I.R. where a wife had been granted a divorce decree and costs in England. Her former husband came to live in Ireland, and she tried unsuccessfully to sue him in the Republic for unpaid costs. Although the Supreme Court decision was unanimous, Kingsmill Moore J., nevertheless stated that Irish Courts had recognised foreign divorces, where the parties were domiciled in the jurisdiction of the Court, as laid down by the Le Mesurier case—(1895)A.C.—and this had not changed under either the Irish Constitutions of 1922 or of 1937. In the Caffin case, the testator had married his first wife, in London and subsequently divorced her on the ground of desertion in 1956 in England; they had no children. He then married his second wife in a Registry office in Dublin; and were domiciled in Ireland until his death in 1970 : they also had no children. The second wife elected to take he half-share under the Succession Act 1970, and Kenny J. helt that, under the Le Mesurier principle, she was entitled to do so. Finally the lecturer analysed James O'Reilly's article in The Irish Jurist on "The recognition of Foreign Divorces". Whether residence is a good basis for the recognition of a foreign divorce has not yet been decided in Ireland—nor has the validity of a Northern Ireland divorce granted there been decided. Rights to maintenance: District Justice Herman Good, delivered a lecture on "The Rights of a Deserted Spouse to Maintenance" on Sunday morning, 5th November. He said that the Married Women (Maintenance in Case of Desertion) Act had been introduced in 1886. This had fixed the maximum sum payable at £4 per week, irrespective of the number of children. Under the Courts Act 1971, the wife may now apply for a sum of £15 weekly, plus a maximum weekly sum of £5 per child. An applica- tion can now be made to a higher Court if the husband is wealthy. The mother of an illegitimate child may now apply for the payment of £ 4 weekly (formerly £1) by the putative father. Even under the Courts Act 1971, it is still difficult to enforce payment against a recalcitrant husband. If the wife applies to commit the husband to prison, he is then likely to lose his good job. The District Court does not know at the moment how much a husband earns, this should be made known to the Court, so that portion of his salary could be attached to make weekly payments to his wife. If the husband leaves Ireland and goes to England, one cannot institute proceedings in respect of an Irish Court Order to recover maintenance and arrears; if there are children, the husband can be brought back to Ireland on a charge of neglecting his children, but otherwise nothing can be done. Breakdown of family life due to drugs: There has been an increasing tendency in Ireland to the breakdown of family life due to such causes as —poverty, unemployment, cruelty, violence, incompati- bility, frustration, parental attitude and lack of dis- cipline in children. The influence of religion is con- tinuously decreasing and a religious revival is neces- sary. Unfortunately, an important factor is drugs; people have appeared before the Justice with fingers amputated due to the use of heroin. The problem is growing ever more serious, and the drug squad could not possibly cope. Up to then, 160 persons had been

charged, but this is only a small beginning. Drug addiction goes to the root of family life, and proba- tion officers must try to save the marriage. Justice Delap alone had 40 cases to deal with—this problem is increasing, and there are many cases of drunken- ness. In theory, children's allowances are given to help supplement the income, but there is an unfortuunate tendency to commonly deposit the allowance book as security for a loan to moneylenders—which is an offence. There are some regular women drunkards, some of whom have more than 100 convictions. In reply to the Minister for Justice, who suggested that religion should have nothing to do with politics, the lecturer said that if we did not have the anchor of religion, there was no future for society without belief. A heroin addict is not cured by being sent to prison. They are sick, and need treatment in a special place— they are not strictly criminals. Minister's speech: The Minister for Justice, Mr. Desmond O'Malley, T.D., said that one of the most important powers contained in the Courts Act 1971, was the increase in jurisdiction granted to the District Court and the Circuit Court. It was however disappointing to note that to a large extent the High Court was still the forum for accident cases; he considered that the trouble entailed and the costs incolved did not warrant that the cases should be taken in Dublin. At the moment, he was working on a Court Officers Bill which would deal primarily with the powers of District Probate Officers, and the modernisation and extension of the lunacy laws. He also wishes to enact the recommendations of the Com- mittee on Court Practice and Procedure extending the jurisdiction of the Master of the High Court and reduce the functions of the jury in civil courts as far as possible. The present Circuit Court jurisdiction may have to be further extended. He frankly admitted that there had been no law reform legislation in the two and a half years since he became Minister, but said that he had to take away law reform officers to deal with security measures, as he had spent 90 per cent of his time in acting as Minister of the Interior. The Charities Bill 1971 had been introduced in the Senate, and he hoped it would be law early in the New Year. As regards the problem of deserted wives, he had tried, with the co-operation of the Lord Chancellor's Office, to get the British authorities to draft a bill for the enforcement of civil and com- mercial judgments, which is already law in the Com- munity. There will be no difficulty in enforcing these judgments after our entry into the Community on 1st January, 1973. As regards drugs, a Misuse of Drugs Bill will be published shortly, in which the Minister will have power to transfer a drug addict from prison to hospital. A psychiatrist will be first called in, and the transfer will take place on his recommendation to the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum or to Grange- gorman. It is important that the offender should be kept in a place where he cannot get drugs. Some parents of addicts were impressed with the improve- ments they had undergone in prison. The programme of prison rehabilitation had been retarded by the destruction of Mountjoy. But the Probation Service was being greatly improved, and he hoped to appoint 35 Probation Officers spread throughout the country soon. 18