Divorce rates show highest increase at 2,817

MORE than 2,800 people were divorced last year, the highest annual figure since records began.

According to the annual report of the Courts Service published yesterday, the number of divorces have risen every year since 1997.

In 2001, only one case involving a couple from the Midlands was refused, while 47 other cases were withdrawn or struck out.

A total of 3,459 people applied for a divorce last year an increase of 120 cases. The majority of applications, or 62% were issued by women. Four out of every five applications for judicial separations are made by women.The number of people seeking a judicial separation rose by 250 to 1,845 last year.

The small increase in divorce figures shows that fears about a large rise in the incidence of marital breakdown following the introduction of divorce has failed to materialise, according to Liz Early, spokesperson for Accord.

Ms Hurley said the number of couples attending the Catholic marriage counselling service did not seem to be affected by the availability of divorce.

"Figures have remained fairly static over the five-years since divorce was introduced," said Ms Early.

She claimed many people who had been granted a divorce recently were likely to have been separated since before divorce was introduced.

Ironically, the number of civil nullities has risen from just three cases in 1997 to 59 last year.

"There may be a financial motive behind the reason for the increase in nullities as there are less obligations to a former partner," said one legal source.

Not surprisingly, Dublin Circuit Court received the highest number of applications last year with almost 1,400 people divorced. Carrick-on-Shannon Circuit had the least number of divorce applications across the State's 26 Circuit Courts with just eight cases.

The courts also granted 1,160 applications under Section 33 of the Family Law Act 1995 last year.

The law covers the legal requirement to give three months notice of intention to marry as well as the need for permission to be obtained for people under the age of 18 to marry. A total of 29 such applications were refused.

Although the details of family law cases are currently prohibited from being published, a spokesperson for the Courts Service said a pilot project was under consideration by the Government. It is proposed to allow the reporting of judgements in cases of divorce, nullity and judicial separation, while the names of the parties would remain anonymous.