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GAZETTE
N E W S
NOVEMBER 1993
Marital Breakdown Seminar
focuses on lack of resources
Reform of family law, of itself, would
not be effective unless accompanied
j
by a greater allocation of resources
and a radical improvement in facilities
in the family law area, according to a
number of speakers at a recent seminar
j
on "Marital Breakdown - the legal and '
social responses" staged by the Public
Relations Committee of the Law
Society.
In a keynote address to the seminar, on
9 October, the Minister for Equality &
Law Reform,
Mervyn Taylor, TD,
noted that the recent census results
showed that the number of persons in
the separated category had increased
from 37,245 in 1980 to 55,143 in 1991
- a rise of over 50%. A principal
objective of his programme of family
law reform would be to meet the
challenge of making family law more
relevant and accessible to the needs of
the people, said the Minister. "Reform
must necessarily reflect the many
changes which have and are taking
place in families and address the need
to protect, as far as possible, the
institution of marriage, support
families in distress and provide and
strengthen avenues of redress, partic-
ularly where a spouse fails to support
and other spouse and the children of a
marriage." The Minister stated that the
Government was committed to holding
! a referendum on divorce in 1994.
The Minister went on to outline his
legislative programme including the
Matrimonial Home Bill, and details of
a Family Law Bill which he hopes to
! introduce in this Dail session. The Bill
would enable the courts to order
financial relief for a dependant party
j
and to redistribute property following !
the grant of a decree of nullity of
| marriage. The Bill would also enable
the courts in all proceedings
| concerning maintenance of spouses
and children, to order, subject to
certain conditions, attachments of
earnings on an automatic basis. The
age of marriage would be raised in the
Bill from 16 to 18 years and it would
include a requirement to give three
months notice of marriage, he said.
The Minister reported that proposals to
amend the law on barring protection
orders were currently under considera-
tion with a view to extending the
scope of the legislation and to enhance
the rights of parties in non-marital
unions.
Turning to the Scheme of Civil Legal
Aid and Advice, the Minister said that
the grant to the Legal Aid Board for
1993 had almost been 20% higher than
that for 1992 and he was confident that
it would be higher again in 1994. He
said that a Bill to put the Scheme of
Civil Legal Aid on a statutory footing
was in the process of being drafted.
Reform must be accompanied by
funding and restructuring
In his address to the seminar,
Brian
Sheridan
, Solicitor and member of the
Law Society Council, pointed to the
dramatic social change that took place
in October 1989 when the Judicial
Separation and Family Law Reform
Act came into force. Of greatest
significance was the introduction of a
no fault concept of 'marital break-
down
1
as a grounds for a decree of
judicial separation.
The introduction of the obligation
upon the solicitor to advise on the
availability of marriage counselling
and mediation services was also a
significant development in the
recognition of the complex process
that is a marital breakdown. Another
significant provision was the intro-
duction in Section 15 of the Act of
property transfer orders.
He said that the marked social change
in relation to marital breakdown was
confirmed dramatically in the statistics
of the Dublin Circuit Family Court. In
the court year August 1987 to July
1988, 36 decrees of divorce a mensa et
thoro were granted, in the outgoing
court year (July 1993) a total of 324
decrees of judicial separation were
granted.
Referring to the nationwide demand
for legal aid, he stated that approxi-
mately 200 legal aid certificates were
granted in the calendar year 1989 for
judicial separation proceedings. In the
current year (1993) the number
exceeded 600 and was rising. Brian
Sheridan said "a three hundred percent
increase in demand for legal aid in
these cases has not been met by a
300% increase in Legal Aid Board
funding and resources.
"On present figures it is safe to
estimate that there will be approxi-
mately 500 applications for judicial
separation issued in the Dublin Circuit
Court in the current court year 1993/
94. There are only approximately 150
hearing dates. There is currently one
Circuit Court judge assigned to the
Circuit Family Court in Dublin and
support staff has not increased for
some time. The demands on the
country-wide Circuit Family Court
network are even more acute.
"In short, the dramatic social change
has not been matched as yet by
appropriate funding and has not been
mirrored in the structure of our legal
system. Decisions affecting the lives
of many are made within a framework
of ridiculously crowded court lists,
total understaffing and a virtual
complete lack of support services.
Does society have the will to give
financial priority to the funding of a
proper family court system? The
answer at present is 'no'. Society must
face up to the change and 'fund'
accordingly," stated Brian Sheridan.
Addressing the seminar,
Mary
\ O'Toole,
BL, said the whole question
of facilities for family law cases was a
burning issue. She mentioned for
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