Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have the opportunity today to outline the Government's policy on support for the marital family and on provision for divorce and separation in the context of family breakdown. The Senator is aware that there are very substantial legal protections and recognition for the family based on marriage at both constitutional and statutory level. These are recognised not only in our family law code itself but also in our tax codes and in a variety of State benefits provided to spouses. The State recognises the value of a stable and loving marital family and the immense benefits that it brings to society as a whole, particularly to the children of the family. However, it is a sad fact that serious marital differences may arise and cannot always be addressed other than by separation or, ultimately, divorce. The Irish people decided in 1996 that there should be constitutional provision for divorce in cases of irretrievable marital breakdown. However, as the Senator noted, it is interesting that 20 years later, our divorce and judicial separation rates remain low by international standards. Annual rates of divorce and separation also appear to be relatively stable, which I welcome. The data would not suggest a significant upsurge in demand for divorce in this country, and as the Senator indicated, that runs contrary to what is happening in many other places.

The State undertakes a series of initiatives to support couples experiencing marital difficulties. It continues to fund both marriage counselling services to assist couples in rebuilding their relationships, which are very important, along with mediation services. There is much potential for mediation and I would like to see that service developed. The mediation Bill is very close to completion and will be very important. Many people are interested in seeing the development of that mediation service around the country.

Where the relationship has broken down and the parties seek separation or divorce as the only viable option, mediation can also assist in reaching agreements on the terms of the separation or divorce, helping to reduce parental conflict. I am familiar with many studies in the area and if we can reduce that level of conflict, no matter what the couple decide to do with respect to the conflict, there will be beneficial effects for children. As the Senator rightly highlighted in the studies, we know that conflict in the home - marital or otherwise - has detrimental effects on children. We need to do everything we can to help with difficulties if parents are staying together and if they are separating, we must help them to do so in a way that would have least impact on the children. It is vital to maintain the best interests of the child. The Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, key elements of which I commenced on 18 January 2016, provides a new statutory framework to consider the best interests of the child and allow the views of the child to be taken into account, whether directly or through a report by a child's views expert.

The question of income was raised by the Senator. It is clear that post-divorce, many families will suffer some reduction in income. There are many supports available, as we know, including the one-parent family payment, family income supplement or the back-to-work family dividend. With regard to the reports mentioned by the Senator, it is difficult to transpose their findings directly to the Irish context and we have limited research in this country at this point. I have no doubt that there will be more in the years to come on the impact of divorce on children. We have the first wave of data from the Growing up in Ireland study and information on separated families became available in 2014. There was a discussion in the document about the impact of the parental marital status. The authors of the report indicated there are "important implications for policies which promote marriage as the key to child development as it appears that much of the benefits of marriage are not related to marriage ... but to the socioeconomic background of mothers". That is an interesting point in the Irish context.

The Government has undertaken a series of reforms of family law to respond to the positions of families across a range of situations, reflecting a very broad commitment to supporting families, which is very important. Marital breakdown and divorce are realities of modern Irish life and there is a right to divorce enshrined in our Constitution. We need to ensure that any negative impacts on the children are mitigated as much as possible.

The Senator mentioned child poverty and the best way out of poverty is to have a job. This Government's focus on the creation of jobs and supporting families is clearly one of the best ways of challenging poverty. We have had success in the creation of more jobs and there has been a very high number of jobless families in this country, both marital and non-marital. That puts enormous stress on people. The focus on economic recovery and jobs is very significant, not just with respect to a family's material position but also in a psychological aspect.