Irish divorce courts need overhaul

The divorce court system in Ireland needs to be re-examined in order to make it fairer and more financially viable for more people, a report has found.

Published on Tuesday, October 30th, the Irish government-commissioned report has suggested that not enough has been done since divorce was made legal in the country in 1997 to make the process smooth and manageable for couples.

Currently, Irish law dictates that a couple can only file for divorce when they have been separated for four years or more. This is intended to give them time to attempt a reconciliation, but lawyers argue that this rarely happens and only serves to prolong the process of finalising the split.

Carol Coulter, the author of the report, has made 45 recommendations to fix the system. She noted that a lot of problems stem from judges who are not adequately trained in family law and courts in provincial towns only setting aside a few days of each month for marital cases, causing delays.

Ms Coulter said: "According to some practitioners and court staff, in places where delays are very long people can end up settling on terms they are unhappy with, just to bring an end to the proceedings."

In 1997 there were just 95 divorces in Ireland but last year the figure rose to 3,466, a new report from the Central Statistics Office suggests.

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