APPLICATIONS for child custody soared by 44% last year, according to statistics published yesterday.

A STATE-FUNDED mediation service in Waterford for couples who have decided to separate or divorce has been closed down with no warning given to scores of people on a nine-month waiting list.

TAXPAYERS face a multi- million euro bill because government neglect has pushed a service designed to ease the pain and cost of divorce to the brink of collapse, TDs last night warned.

COUPLES seeking a divorce are being forced to live under the same roof because they cannot afford to sell the family home, a leading judicial separation expert has claimed.

Domestic violence accounts for almost half of all cases heard at the Family Law courts and 40% of safety orders are granted by judges, it emerged today.

THERE has been a six-fold increase in the number of couples availing of family mediation since divorce was legalised in Ireland.

EFFORTS have begun to bring conversation rather than confrontation into the heart of the legal system to ease the level of conflict in family disputes.