There has been a fall of almost 15 per cent in the number of people seeking judicial separations or divorce resulting in the lowest number of applications for a decade.

According to the annual report of the Courts Services for 2009, there were 5,398 applications for judicial separation, divorce or nullity last year, compared with 6,236 the previous year.

Only the figure for nullity applications has remained relatively constant at 55, according to a report in the Irish Times.

The previous lowest figure was in 2004, when there were 5,667 applications, down from a high of 5,929 in 2002. Since 2004, the trend has shown a gradual increase in those seeking to end their marriages, until last year.

Family lawyers say that the recession, especially difficulties in the property market are behind the decline in the numbers seeking judicial separation and divorce. They also admit that the cost of legal proceedings may be a deterrent. This would tally with the experience in the UK and US, which have seen similar falls in the number of people getting divorces.

Mr Eugene Davy, a partner in Hayes Solicitors, who specialises in family law, said that the figures showed a growing number of unhappy couples were staying together because they could not afford to split.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, he said: “Generally speaking, the gateway to a separation is the sale of the family home,” he said. “Or alternatively, one spouse gets an increased mortgage to buy out the other.

“Both of those options are no longer there because there is no market to sell the home. On top of that, lending institutions are not giving out loans because of the credit crunch. That is a huge factor.”

The increase in the number of appeals to the High Court against Circuit Court decisions, which rose by 27 per cent last year constitutes further evidence of the impact of the economic downturn on family law.

The majority of applications for judicial separation came from wives (83 per cent in the High Court, 73 per cent in the Circuit Court). However, in the High Court, the majority seeking divorce were husbands, and in the Circuit Court wives only slightly outnumbered husbands in seeking divorces (54 to 46 per cent).

Applications for custody and access in the District Court showed a rise of 27 and 25 per cent respectively, of which the majority were granted. Only 36 of 957 applications for custody were refused, and 157 of 4,348 applications for access. There were 2,463 applications to the District Court from unmarried applicants for guardianship, of which 81 were refused.

There was a drop in the number of applications related to domestic violence in 2009, down from 10,401 in 2008 to 9,856 in 2009. This continues a trend over the past two years, with the number in 2008 falling from a high of 11,394 the previous year.

In 2006, there were 9,924 domestic violence applications in the District Court.

Child care orders were down in 2009. These are care orders and supervision orders made in relation to children at risk, on the application of the HSE.

There were 627 care orders and 941 granted, compared to 804 care orders and 1,044 supervision orders in 2008.