Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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409. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if her Department will carry out a review of the Family Law Act 2019 with a view to reducing the time period after which couples can get divorced; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41193/23]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Family Law Act 2019 made a number of amendments to the law relating to divorce in Ireland. The enactment of the Act followed the signing into law of the Thirty-Eighth Amendment of the Constitution (Dissolution of Marriage) Act 2019 which amended Article 41.3.2° of the Constitution to remove the minimum living apart period for spouses seeking a divorce.

Section 3 of the Family Law Act 2019 amended section 5 of the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996 to reduce the minimum living apart period specified in that Act to two years during the previous three years (from four years during the previous five years). This section came into operation on 1 December 2019.

This legal reform sought to ease the burden on people whose marriages have broken down. The reduction of the living apart period enables couples whose marriages have broken down with no reasonable prospect of reconciliation to regularise their affairs sooner.

There are no plans at present for a review of the Act or to bring forward further amendments to the minimum living apart period specified in the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996.