Any restrictions on divorce could be placed in legislation, rather than the constitution, according to the Minister tasked with liberalising the country’s laws on dissolving marriages. Minister for Culture, Heritage and Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan is shepherding legislation through the Oireachtas on holding a referendum to reduce the period a couple must be ‘living apart’ before one of them may apply for a divorce. Currently, the Constitution requires a couple to be separated for four of the previous five years, and it has been proposed to amend this to two of the previous three years. In a speech to newly enrolled solicitors to the Law Society yesterday, however, and following upon passage of the abortion referendum, she suggested removing the conditions for divorce entirely from the Constitution and dealing with the matter exclusively with legislation. This would allow future Government’s free rein to craft and change divorce law without requiring a referendum of the people.