EU rule gets around our divorce terms

FOR a democratic republic like our own, the highest expression of the will of the people is when we vote in a referendum. In 1995, we voted by a slender majority to allow people who had lived apart for four years, and who had no chance of reconciling, to seek a divorce.

We are constantly told by Fianna Fáil that the EU will never interfere in social policy here, yet the European Commission had the temerity to introduce an obligatory regulation called Brussels II which allows people practically to circumvent the wishes of the Irish people by going to another EU state, living there for one year and then applying to get a divorce.

The Brussels II regulation makes this ‘quickie’ divorce, procured through forum-hopping recognised here.