Tips for Ireland's growing band of second wives

WHEN there was no divorce in Ireland, the second wife was a rare breed, treated with suspicion. Now, with divorce and separation more commonplace, all that has changed.

There were 2,819 divorces granted in 2011, the most recent figures show, and 1,049 judicial separations. Many divorcees remarry — 2,470 in 2009, up from 2,112 in 2005.

But has it become easier to be a second wife, or does she live in the shadows of wife, and family, number one?