Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will address the inclusion of the word "separate". In my experience, applicants for a divorce - the Deputy will know this - have to give evidence to a judge in either the Circuit Court or the High Court to prove whether or not they have been living separate and apart for a period of four out of the proceeding five years. This can be when they are living under the same roof. I included the word so as to try to ensure some clarity around this. The applicants generally have to give evidence to the judge that they have lived completely separate lives. During the recession, as we know, many separated people were forced to continue living together. Even now, many cannot afford to rent, take out mortgages on or furnish two separate houses. Applicants have to give evidence that they have not been acting as man and wife and do not have normal marital relations. They might have to prove, for example, that they do not wash each other's clothes or eat or socialise together. They may co-parent their children but this does necessarily mean acting as a married couple. In my experience over a number of years, there is a question mark over that. Couples can sometimes collude in living separate lives so as to shorten the time period, claiming that they were living separate and apart when they were not. The inclusion of the word is intended to clarify this matter because judges sometimes find it tricky.