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

I had listened to the concerns of my clients in and out of courtrooms for two decades in practice and I was not going to waste the opportunity. As I said in the Dáil that day, my husband may differ with me, but I believe we have been happily married for 15 years - it is now 17 years. However, I am one of the lucky ones. Marriage is all fine and well when it works, but when it does not it is truly a veritable nightmare. I think it was Jean Paul Sartre who said "L'enfer, c'est les autres." or "Hell is other people." That is particularly true, I imagine, when people are trapped in a bad marriage. I was determined to do something to help.

After all, why are we in Dáil Éireann if not to attempt to alleviate the suffering of others in whatever way we can? I knew that a shorter waiting period within which one could apply for a divorce was badly needed, to take people out of legal limbo with protracted matrimonial litigation and to lessen the emotional and financial costs of marital breakdown.

I am pleased to have instigated this social reform in our country and it represents not just a significant achievement in my own career but of new politics. In a world where politics can be viewed with cynicism, it shows that one person really can make a difference, although it would not have progressed without the support of the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar. I thank him and my Cabinet colleagues for their support in bringing forward the referendum in the first instance. I thank the former Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, and former Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald, for their support of my original Private Members' Bill. I also have huge gratitude to the current Minister, Deputy Flanagan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, for all their assistance in delivering the legislation in such an expeditious manner. As I said in the Dáil in 2016, it is time that this Chamber stood up for separated people and, in the spirit of fairness, that we lessen a major unnecessary obstacle to beginning a new chapter in people's lives following marital breakdown. I urge colleagues to support the Bill.

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