DIVORCE entered the Irish legal system yesterday not with a bang, but a whimper.
No floodgates were opened, there was no deluge of applications for divorce. Indeed, the number of civil bills lodged in Circuit Court offices probably did not even get into double figures.
However, this may have been due as much to an industrial "problem" in the court offices as to people's reluctance to be guinea pigs in sorting out the teething problems of the operation of the complex new divorce legislation.
There was some confusion yesterday on whether there was an industrial dispute between clerical workers in the court system and the Department of Justice.
According to a spokeswoman for the Department, who quoted the union, the CPSU, there was no such dispute. However, lawyers attempting to lodge civil bills seeking divorce in the office of the Dublin Circuit Court found they would not be processed until "problems" were sorted out.
Despite this, a few papers were lodged. The Dublin County Registrar, Mr Michael Quinlan, could not say exactly how many, but thought it had been fewer than 10. He also said he expected any problems which might exist with the processing of the bills to be ironed out very quickly.
An anonymous clerical worker in the Cork Circuit Court office told The Irish Times "We have an instruction from our union that the county registrar is to deal with these queries." Asked if this included all queries, including attempts by solicitors to lodge civil bills for divorce, he said "Yes."
However, when The Irish Times attempted to talk to the county registrar it was told she was at a meeting all day. The clerical worker said he understood that the same instruction applied to the other circuit court offices.
The Minister for Equality and Law Reform marked the first day of operation of divorce in Ireland yesterday by launching a booklet outlining services for marriages in difficulty.
"We mark the introduction today of a statutory regime for divorce, of a kind not seen since the codification of the Brehon Law," Mr Taylor said.
He responded to some of the critics of the new legislation and the accompanying rules. "Some people have recently complained about the divorce procedures and have in effect called for quick and easy divorce," he said. "Well, I have news for them. The basic conditions, set out in the Constitution, were essential to ensuring the success of the referendum."
He also warned people to be very careful about attempting to process their own divorces.
"People should be wary of the do it yourself approach. Let me make clear to the cynics that I hold no brief to improve the incomes of solicitors. But I do hold a brief to ensure that people's rights are protected. That's why I would say to anyone contemplating divorce that divorce is a serious legal matter and they would be well advised to get legal help."
He pointed out that funding for the Legal Aid Board has increased three fold, and urged those not eligible to shop around among private solicitors.
He rejected warnings that the judicial system might not be able to cope with the volume of divorce cases. "There certainly are a lot of separated people out there - but not all of them will be applying for divorce today or even this year."
He said that 150,000 copies of the booklet, Services for Marriages in Difficulty, would be published, and it would be available through law centres, public libraries, solicitors, post offices and from the Department.