Three out of 20 marriages ending in divorce

THREE out of every 20 marriages end in divorce, with a record number of terminations granted by the courts last year.

According to the annual report of the Courts Service, 2,929 couples were granted a divorce last year. Only five applications were refused while another 40 were either withdrawn or struck out.

Since 2000, divorce rates for couples has remained fairly consistent averaging between 2,500 and 3,000 cases each year.

Overall, almost 15,000 couples have been granted a formal divorce by the courts since it became legal in 1997. A further 7,500 couples have been granted a judicial separation over the same period.

The number of new divorce applications dropped by 179 to 3,733 last year, while the number of judicial separation petitions also fell slightly to 1,802 cases.

The report reveals that six out of every ten applicants for divorce are women. Females also account for over 70% of all applications for judicial separation.

Waiting times for the courts to hear divorce applications have also fallen significantly in recent years, with the average waiting time in Dublin now just six weeks, where the petition is not contested by either partner.

In other areas of family law, the courts recorded a decline in the number of applications for barring and protection orders.

Spouses and common law partners accounted for over 85% of all 1,575 barring orders granted last year. However, over one in ten cases related to protection sought by parents.

Meanwhile, the withholding of deposits on rented property has topped the list of complaints made by consumers under the small claims procedure last year.

The Small Claims Court recorded a 56% increase in the number of cases relating to "key money".

A total of 588 complaints about such deposits on property were made in 2003. For the first time, complaints about holidays - which totalled 388 cases last year - were replaced as the primary category of issues handled by the Small Claims Court.

Other main sources of complaints were cars, furniture, dry cleaners, computers and audio and electrical equipment.

The procedure is designed to deal with all consumer claims about the standards of goods or services up to a total value of €1270. Half of all claims were settled without the cases going to a full hearing.

Counties with highest divorce rates

Dublin: 1,032.2.

Cork: 357.3.

Wexford: 125.4.

Wicklow: 116.5.

Galway: 110.