David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In March, the Minister published the text of the amendments to be proposed for the referendum on divorce and published the draft general scheme of a family law Bill. The proposal in that draft general scheme was to reduce the minimum living apart period specified in section 5 of the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996 to two years during the previous three years, from four years during the previous five years. Deputies will recall that, in the discussions relating to the referendum, there was widespread support in both Houses of the Oireachtas and among the general public for providing in legislation for a minimum living apart period of two years during the previous three years. The Government believes that the proposed minimum living apart period of two years, on which there was broad agreement prior to the referendum, is an appropriate minimum period. To move from a minimum living apart period of four years, as the law stands, to six months as proposed by the Deputy would be going too far at this time. I assure the Deputy that the living apart period will be kept under ongoing review once the legislation comes into operation and we see how the new living apart period is working in practice. If the Deputy's amendment were to be accepted it would result in the process for obtaining a divorce becoming faster than the process for judicial separation. This would cause significant difficulties for the operation of the legislation in this area of law and may call into question the compatibility of this Bill with Article 41 of the Constitution, so we are opposing the amendment.

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