Carlow has the country’s highest divorce rate

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Carlow has the country’s highest divorce rate

Carlow had the country’s highest divorce rate, followed by Dublin and Tipperary, according to the latest figures from the Courts Service.

Details of breakdown of marriage and civil partnerships for 2016 show more than 4,100 couples applied for divorce that year.

Another 1,300 couples applied for a judicial separation, which allows married couples to split in a more straightforward fashion than divorce.

An analysis of the circuit court data shows how Carlow retained the highest rate of divorce application during 2016, as it also topped the table during the previous year.

It was followed by Dublin, Tipperary, Clare, and Louth, all with rates well above the national average.

On a nationwide basis, the number of divorce applications per 100,000 of population was 87.4, with only nine of the 26 counties above that.

The figures are skewed somewhat by the high number in Dublin, where there were 1,411 divorce applications during 2016.

Counties with the lowest rates included Kilkenny, Leitrim, and Monaghan, all with rates just 60% of the national average.

Leitrim, the least populous county, also had by far the lowest number of applications, with just 17 couples filing for divorce.

The overall number of divorce applications dipped in 2016 with 4,162 recorded as compared to 4,290 in 2015.

The figures also reveal that 3,197 divorces were granted during the year with almost one third of those in Dublin. In Cork, there were 457 divorce applications, of which 427 were granted. In Kerry, 122 applications were received, with 95 granted.

Judicial separation continues to be an option for some couples with 1,324 such applications in 2016 and 722 of them granted.

The counties where judicial separation is more likely to be chosen are quite different to those for divorce with Cavan, Cork, and Kerry all reporting high rates.

There were 181 applications for judicial separations in Cork, of which 96 were granted. In Kerry, 49 applications were made, of which 17 were granted.

The lowest rates for applications for judicial separation were in Meath, Roscommon, and Wicklow.

Some husbands and wives also opt for a declaration of nullity, which is a declaration that their marriage was null and void. No details of these cases are provided but amongst the reasons allowed for are a lack of mental capacity, lack of consent, or that one or other half of the couple is “incapable of sexual intercourse”.

There were 32 applications nationwide for nullity, with 14 granted. The highest numbers were in the major population centres of Dublin, Cork, and Galway.

Civil partnership also remained the choice of some, despite the introduction of same-sex marriages in November 2015, with 61 couples opting for a civil partnership in 2016, according to the Courts Service records.

The rate of divorce in Ireland remains very low by international standards and in the most recent UN rankings, only a handful of countries had lower rates.

A major change to how the divorce system works is expected with a reduction in the waiting time required.

Until now, couples needed to be separated for four years before being allowed to apply for divorce. However, a referendum is planned that would cut it to two.

A Courts Service spokesman said the country’s busy family law courts reflected “what is going on throughout society: where the country and people are at”.

He said: “All courts are presented and deal with every aspect of human endeavour, disagreements, and frailty: none more so than the family law courts.”

Source: https://www.irishexaminer.com/ir ... ce-rate-466820.html