The Iona Institute has criticised proposals by the Minister for Justice to reduce the waiting time for divorce.
Reacting to comments made by Minister Frances Fitzgerald that “it is time to review” the minimum four-year waiting period for couples seeking a divorce, Iona director David Quinn said the “announcement is simply one more indication that this Government does not take seriously its duty under the Constitution ‘to guard with special care the institution of marriage’, enshrined in Article 41.3.1 of Bunreacht na hEireann.”
He continued: “Making it easier to divorce is the complete opposite of this. At present there are about 250,000 separated or divorced people in Ireland. Around 60 percent of this total are separated, not divorced. Some of these will be waiting for a divorce, but many will not.
“It is true that some people find the wait for a divorce very frustrating, but if the current constitutional requirement to wait several years before divorcing is slowing down the rate of divorce, then we should retain it.
“When Spain introduced a much quicker divorce procedure ten years ago, the number of divorces there quickly doubled.”
Minister Fitzgerald’s comments have been echoed both by her Fine Gael colleague Alan Shatter and by the Government’s junior coalition partner, the Labour Party. A spokesman for that party has said a review of the four-year waiting period would be welcome.
David Quinn pointed out that the coalition’s stance is very much at odds with the one adopted during the marriage referendum which legislated for same-sex marriage in May.
“The Government’s rhetoric during the marriage referendum campaign was that it takes marriage very seriously,” he said. “There is no evidence of this. On the contrary. The Children and Family Relationships Act gives no special place to marriage in decisions concerning adoption, or Assisted Human Reproduction. During the referendum campaign its transpired that funding to the marriage counselling agency, Accord, has suffered a further drastic cut at the hands of the Government.”
He concluded: “We now know once and for all that the Government does not believe in the special place of marriage in Irish society. Logically, it should seek to remove mention of marriage from the Constitution entirely since it clearly rejection the notion that marriage is of any special value to society”.
