Service for separating couples to be extended

The Family Mediation Service is to be set up on a national scale, according to the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, who yesterday stressed the Government's commitment to maintain the "tradition of the family in Ireland".

The service is free, professional and confidential and enables couples who have decided to separate to reach agreement on all issues relating to their separation.

Government funding for the service will rise from £300,000 in previous years to £900,000 this year, the Minister said. The services will operate by the end of the year from centres in Athlone, Cork, Dundalk, Galway, Tallaght, Tralee and Wexford.

This funding is part of a £2.75 million package by the Department for family services this year, which will bring total funding in 1998 to £4 million, the Minister said. Part of that package includes £850,000 for a family affairs unit. Based in the Department, this will co-ordinate family policy, research, parenting information and local office projects. There will be an additional £600,000 for marriage counselling and £700,000 for family and community resource centres.

Mr Ahern said a national family mediation service was a "key objective" in the Action Programme for the Millennium. "This Government is committed to maintaining the tradition of the family in Ireland by focusing supports for parents and their children and protecting the family through political, economic, social and other measures."

The service operates through a trained mediator and without resorting to the courts. According to official figures, 61 per cent of the 250 cases dealt with each year are successful. A further 32 per cent fail to reach agreement and in 7 per cent couples agree to continue the marriage.

The £600,000 for marriage and child counselling will help meet the increasing demand for the services in the light of "increasing pressures on marriages in a rapidly changing world. Hopefully, it will help to strengthen family relationships and prevent break-up of family units".

Voluntary organisations involved in marriage preparation and bereavement support services will get £230,000 as part of the Minister's family development programme.

Mr Ahern said that last year the Eastern Health Board area, the largest of the State's health boards, issued 17,454 marriage certificates, an increase of almost 2,000 on 1996. Most marriages still take place in church, although civil ceremonies are on the increase.