Law must support healthy relationships

Dan Buckley speaks to a solicitor about the effect of divorce on the family as her book on the subject is launched

WHEN solicitor Helen Collins was studying for a law degree at University College Cork there was no such thing as divorce in Ireland although there was, inevitably, plenty of unhappy marriages.

The Family Law (Divorce) Act of 1996 changed all that, allowing couples to end their marriage without rancour or bitterness. At least, that was the idea behind the legislation which trumpeted a “no fault” system where the grounds for divorce were predicated solely on lengthy separation.