AIM has been helping women for 30 years, and although today's issues arevery different - the marriage bar is gone, the family home is protected,divorce and contraception are available, and children's allowance goes to the mother - the organisation is still important, for campaigning, legal advice and mediation, writes Anne Dempsey

'Life was very different 30 years ago when Women's Liberation reached Ireland. The fact that there was a marriage bar in the Civil Service and State-sponsored bodies meant that women had to give up work upon marriage, equal pay for equal work was unheard of, contraception was not readily available, the family home was mostly in the husband's name, the paltry children's allowance was payable to the father, and if a marriage broke down, a woman was very vulnerable indeed. There was no divorce, yet a couple could marry at 14 and 16 years of age, respectively."

The snapshot of 1972 Ireland in AIM's current 30th anniversary newsletter has the ironic rider: "This gave AIM Group plenty of scope to work on". The name AIM stood for Act, Inform, Motivate, and the fledgling organisation was the brainchild of Nuala Fennell and Deirdre McDevitt, who began meeting with other like-minded young women in Fennell's home in south Dublin. They decided to tackle one issue at a time, and started by researching a married woman's right to maintenance within the home, spoke to solicitors and judges, obtained court statistics, attended Al Anon and Gam Anon meetings and listened to women. Their research further convinced them there was all to play for.

Today, things have changed totally. Married women work as their right, receive equal pay in many sectors, have access to contraception, a legal entitlement to a financial share in the family home, and are the recipients of children's allowances, now a more meaningful sum. Judicial separation and divorce are available through the Irish courts, a couple may not marry until age 18, and are strongly encouraged to have some pre-marriage preparation.

Along the way, AIM has changed its name to AIM Family Services to incorporate its development from a campaigning organisation and later drop-in advice centre, to also offering counselling and mediation by appointment.

However, the more things change, the more they stay the same. "The people coming to us for help and advice these days are experiencing communications difficulties in their marriage, they have childcare and financial problems, and may have had high expectations which are not realised. Many may not want to leave the marriage, but need to know where they stand legally. In spite of increased marital breakdown, in our experience the decision to leave is never easy. Many women invest heavily in marriage, hate to leave home and garden, take the children out of school and disrupt everyone's lives," says Margaret Roche, AIM chairwoman.

"AIM is unique in Ireland as a drop-in centre providing legal information without appointment, plus counselling and mediation under one roof. Everyone that comes up these stairs is seen, nobody is ever turned away. Our advice volunteers have received counselling skills and legal training, and consultations routinely last up to an hour."

Solicitor Isobel Butler is AIM's legal adviser. "While many women now know their rights - or at least know they have rights - some are reluctant to go to a solicitor; feeling they will become sucked in to some irrevocable system and lose control in the process. So giving them advice and information helps them go away and think about their options. One of the most important pieces of legislation for us was the 1989 Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act which gave a wife a claim to the family property, to maintenance, to barring orders. Very many rights flowed from it. Before this Act, we didn't always have a lot of good news for a woman who wished to separate as - unless the property was in joint names - she could literally have been out on the street."

Early clients tended to be middle-aged women, some of them getting the bus to Dublin from remote areas of rural Ireland. "You would often find the problems arose as early as the first year but they stayed for years because their was no redress. Housewives then were at the bottom the pile," says Roche.

"Today's clients tend to be younger, more financially independent with more choices. Marriages are ending even though people live together before marriage. I think when you marry there is a shift, a door which was open, now closes, and this can change things. Also, I think many couples are not ready for the huge changes involved in having children.

"A growing number of clients are men wondering what their rights are also. They come to discuss decisions, women are more open to moving to another level, to talking about feelings."

Separating couples today may not appreciate the value of successful mediation. A couple who agree on how they will dispose of assets and jointly care for any children can go to their respective solicitors with that mediated agreement, sign it, thus transforming it into a legally binding document which means they need never go near a court. While all divorce cases necessitate a court hearing, a ratified mediated agreement (known as Consent Order(s)) will be accepted by a judge.

"If you can't agree yourselves, the judge will make decisions on your behalf," says Butler. "Sometimes it is the only method by which settlements will be made but it is handing over a lot of power and control."

While AIM's early campaigning days may be over, there are, it believes, still battles to be fought. Outstanding family law issues include: the definition of family, long delays in court which leaves lives on hold, and a need to look at the "in camera" ruling in family law cases in order to provide more public information on the reasons behind orders which affect family members.

"The only family recognised in Ireland is the family based on marriage, which means that for cohabiting couples, there is no such thing legally as the family home," explains Butler. "Should they split up, she would have a very strong interest in the property if her name is on it, but unless the home is in joint names, each must prove the financial contribution made towards the home. If her contribution has been primarily of care and maintenance rather than cash, she can lose out very badly and could be left homeless." Given the many different types of family that now exist, AIM is among many professional bodies who believe this an area in urgent need of reform.

"The 'in camera' ruling in family law cases means that what takes place in court cannot be reported. It was instituted to protect the privacy and anonymity of the participants, which is desirable. But the effect is that we must rely on anecdotal evidence on what judgments are handed down, what maintenance, what rulings, without knowing the basis for these," says Butler. "And there are many anomalies.

"Over 10 years ago, the District Court set a maintenance limit the equivalent of €75 per child per week and this has remained unchanged. The judge cannot exceed this, irrespective of family assets, because that is the limit set by the court.

Taking a case to the District Court need not cost an awful lot, but if you want a better settlement per child, you need to go to the Circuit Court and many cannot afford this. Legal aid is available, but there are long queues and it is means-tested. In some ways, the people that lose out most are those stuck just above the legal aid limit.

"The 'in camera' ruling also means we have no idea what portion of the family income is allocated for a dependent spouse and child, every case is individual. The question is: 'Is there a yardstick and what is it?' We need to have more consistency in judgments. AIM has written to the Department of Justice and the Law Reform Commission about this anomaly on a number of occasions."

Another problem, she says, arises from the huge delay in cases coming to court, and the consequent domino effect in the circuit courts.

"The Circuit Court sits in different areas outside Dublin for two weeks each term and there are four terms each year. So you could have a woman, say in Castlebar, waiting 18 months for her case to be heard, and living on social welfare while she waits. Then she finds that much of the two weeks is taken up with high profile cases, with family law squeezed into the last day, or even the last afternoon of the last day.

"She is already feeling vulnerable, going to court is terrifying anyway, there is so much riding on it for her, there is scope for arm-twisting for her to agree to a settlement, otherwise she may have to wait months for another chance. The volume of cases has grown enormously and the judicial system has not caught up with the demands.

"All of these factors mean we need research on what is happening in the courts."

Over the next few years, AIM will be concentrating on more outreach work, offering information, advice and practical help to a more diverse public.

"A realisation in recent years is the middle-class profile of many of our clients," says Roche. "We have now established a relationship with a community group in Tallaght. We plan to work there once a month, and we would equally see ourselves working out in other communities. We are also working with Community Information Centres, and with Transition Year students to begin explaining what the contract of marriage means, something that many adults are still very vague about.

"The AIM Group had a very high profile in the 1970s and 1980s due to our being at the cutting edge of much positive legislative change. In more recent years, we have not been so prominent. We do not deal predominantly with matters of marital violence, rape, sex abuse or single mothers - issues which grab the headlines.

"But we have been here for thousands of women for 30 years, and we feel our work has made a significant contribution in changing the laws for the betterment of family life."

AIM Family Services, 6 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-6708363. Website: www.aimfamilyservices.ie