Irish divorce law in a social policy vacuum - from the unspoken to the unknown

This article presents a historical overview of the regulation of the family under Irish law and focuses in particular upon the deep-rooted resistance to the remedy of divorce. In this context, it will demonstrate the elevated position of the marital family under Irish law and trace the attempts to recognise and provide for parties to a broken marriage, culminating in the 1995 removal of the Constitutional prohibition on the dissolution of marriage. In the second part, the article will critically analyse the regulatory structure which now provides for divorce under Irish law and will identify the detrimental effect of a failure to consider and identify the underlying policy aims of this radical shift in family law regulation.