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GAZETTE
JULY-AUGUST 1979
Family Law and the Work of
A.I.M. Group
By DEIRDRE McDEVITT, A.I.M. Group
The objectives of AIM Group ( "A. I .M. "- Action,
Interest, Motivation) are to highlight the areas of Irish life
where women are discriminated against, show attitudes of
politicians and political parties against, show attitudes of
politicians and political parties towards reforms we know
are necessary to improve their position under Irish Law
and to educate women as to their rights under present law
in such areas as separation, maintenance, custody,
property and social welfare benefits. At the present time
we have branches in Athlone, Clonmel, Dundalk, Galway
and Limerick.
We began in 1971 doing research into the position of
Irishwomen within marriage and published our first report
on "The Need for Family Maintenance Legislation in
Ireland" in 1972. This was followed in 1975 by another
report based on a study we completed on "Legal
Separations in Ireland." After the enactment of the
Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses & Children) Act
1976 and the Family Home Protection Act 1976 we
published four leaflets explaining how these two Acts
operate, including one on Church and Civil Annulments
and one explaining the difference between a separation
agreement and a deed of separation.
Members of AIM have spoken on numerous platforms
throughout the country on the subject of family law
reform, and each year we organise a public meeting in
Dublin on topics which, in our opinion, need airing (e.g.
this year, International Year of the Child, our theme was
"Education - Possibilities for Personal Development").
Our branches also hold public meetings, though perhaps
not as frequently. A very important aspect of our work,
and one which we take seriously as a pressure group, is
meetings with Government Ministers and all members of
the Oireachtas and with such bodies as the Law Reform
Commission.
Just recently we published our first magazine called
"Women's AIM" which is being distributed nationally;
we plan to publish three annually. When AIM Group
began in 1971, I personally saw our work partly as an
academic exercise investigating family law in other coun-
tries and pinpointing faults in our own legal system and
never visualised that four years later we would be forced
to open a Women's Centre to cope with legal and social
advice which women seemed to need. Those of us who
emerged with the Group averaged about three telephone
calls daily to our homes at this time and as publicity for
the organisation grew so the number who needed help
grew. It seemed that nobody cared about marital
Problems before then, if you had them you learned to live
with them.
Our centre, which is now at 14 Upr. Leeson Street,
Dublin 4 (Telephone No. 763587) is open five mornings a
week for anyone who cares to call. Our committee of
twenty take turns in operating the Centre. We have all
taken a course in counselling and are familiar with all
aspects of family law. The cases we hear today are not as
horrific as they were even three years ago; family homes
can no longer be sold without the consent of both
spouses; wives and children have a right to decent main-
tenance, and barring orders (though not working to
everyone's satisfaction) are at least a deterrent.
That is not to say that anyone who has a marital
problem finds it easy. Coming to terms with the fact that
a problem exists is difficult, doing something about it is
not easy either but this is where we hope we can help, by
weighing up the situation and deciding with the person
whether legal action is realistic and what steps are
necessary from then on. Common problems are finance,
alcoholism, violence and infidelity, which is on the
increase. An example of the type of case we handle is the
young married mother of two children forced to leave the
marital home with the children because of her husband's
mental cruelty and who has been served with a
maintenance and barring order summons and notified of
custody proceedings. She did not understand the mean-
ing of the summons, particularly in view of the fact that
she was not earning, she had no solicitor to whom she
could go to get advice and also did not have the means to
employ one. We were able to explain to her what was
involved and put her in touch with a sympathetic solicitor
who took counter proceedings. However, the number of
solicitors handling this type of work is limited and those
that do are very overworked.
Due to the lack of civil legal aid, though we may advise
our clients to take legal action, this is not always within
their reach. The majority of women in this country give
up their jobs on marriage to rear their families and are,
therefore, dependent on their husbands. This leaves them
in a very vulnerable position when a problem arises within
the marriage. Though they may have a few pounds stored
away for a rainy day they know it will not be sufficient for
a court hearing and rely on husbands to pay the costs.
Any woman calling on a solicitor to take a case to court,
because of her position, demands a great deal of under-
standing. As often as not it is her first dealing with the
law, she may have guilt feelings for her failure in marriage
and her decision to take legal action, particularly where
separation is involved, is not taken lightly. She is split
between anxiety for her future and that of her children's
welfare.
We know that family problems can often be difficult
and long-drawn out and we are often confronted with
women who have already been through the courts and are
not happy with the results, such as Mrs. B., a farmer's
wife with two children. She was advised by her solicitor to
leave her husband. Knowing the man, Mrs. B. wanted a
lump sum payment so that she could finish with the
marriage and concentrate on rearing her children and per-
haps later return to work herself, but her solicitor felt it
would be wiser to accept weekly payments. These are
only coming intermittently and Mrs. B. has to keep
returning to court to remind her husband of his
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