Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I join other Members in expressing the Labour Party's condolences to the family, friends and party of the late Councillor Manus Kelly on his tragic passing. The people voted overwhelmingly in support of the thirty-eighth amendment to the Constitution on 24 May last and the President endorsed it on 11 June. We have now amended the Constitution to provide the Oireachtas with the power to change the period for which a person applying for a divorce must have lived apart from his or her spouse. I have had a number of contacts from people as to when this change will happen given that it requires only a minor adjustment to the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996. The special rapporteur on child protection, Mr. Geoffrey Shannon, has also called for priority for this amendment. The people have determined the matter, there will be no opposition in the House and it is a simple legislative change. When can we see it?

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