There has been a small increase in the number of divorces granted by the Circuit Court over the past year, while there has been no significant reduction in the number of people still applying for judicial separations rather than divorce.
Figures for the legal year 19992000 show that the number of divorces granted rose by 271, from 2,315 in the year to July 1999 to 2,586 in the year ending last July.
However, the number of divorce applications, judicial separations and nullity applications remained fairly constant. There has been no significant decrease in the numbers seeking judicial separation, despite the introduction of divorce. The number seeking judicial separation last year was 1,526, compared with 1,536 the previous year.
This is thought to be because of the constitutional requirement that a couple be separated for four years prior to seeking a divorce. To avoid waiting for this period before sorting out issues such as the family home and custody of children, many couples have these issues resolved through a judicial separation or a separation agreement and return four years later for a divorce decree.
There has also been no drop in the numbers seeking a nullification of their marriage, which was 87 in the year ending July 2000 and 86 the previous year.
Nullity proceedings result in a declaration that no valid marriage existed. This means that the couple are not entitled to the reliefs - relating primarily to maintenance and property - laid down in the legislation governing separation and divorce.
A nullity application can arise if the person was married before and did not obtain a valid divorce, if there was coercion, non-consumation or the nondisclosure of relevant information, such as one of the parties having a history of mental illness.
More than half the number of divorces, 1,653, were sought in the Dublin area last year. In the same period 1,117 were granted there. The number granted does not necessarily relate to the number sought, as some of those granted may have been sought in the previous year. Dublin also had the largest number of judicial separations sought, 470. During the last legal year 370 were granted. In the same year, 26 nullity applications were made, and 10 granted, in Dublin.
The next biggest population centre, Cork, had the next greatest number of applications for divorce, separation and nullity. There were 313 applications for divorce, 237 for separation and 25 for nullity. During the same period, 207 divorces were granted, 116 separations and 10 nullifications.
Carrick-on-Shannon registered the lowest number of divorce applications, with eight last year. This compares with 13 in the year ending July 1999. However, there were 15 separation applications there. Four divorce applications were refused in the past year, three of them in Dublin and one in Dundalk. One application each for a separation and one for a nullity were also refused.