THE Government plans to introduce the Divorce Bill in the Dail the week after next following the Supreme Court decision yesterday to uphold the results of the divorce referendum.
The text of the Family Law (Divorce) Bill, published during the referendum campaign last November, was approved by the Cabinet yesterday. It will be presented to the Dail, with technical drafting amendments, in the next few days.
Though Fianna Fail will work with the Government to bring forward the Bill, the party leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, said last night it would table amendments at committee stage. A party spokesman said these would deal with family support and counselling for children.
There was relief and considerable jubilation in political circles when the 16 year Oireachtas battle to legislate for divorce conclusively ended yesterday. It will be 18 months, at least, before the first divorce is granted.
The Supreme Court unanimously rejected Mr Des Hanafin's petition to have the referendum declared null and void. The five judges decided Mr Hanafin had failed to prove the Government's unconstitutional expenditure of public funds on seeking a Yes vote in the divorce referendum materially affected the result.
Mr Hanafin had appealed an earlier decision of a divisional court of the High Court. The High Court judges found that, while the Government expenditure was unconstitutional, this did not amount to interference in the conduct of the referendum. Even if it did, they said, Mr Hanafin failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that such interference materially affected the outcome.
Mr Hanafin appealed to the Supreme Court against all these findings.
The Chief Justice, Mr Justice Hamilton, and a majority of Supreme Court judges agreed with him that the expenditure did constitute interference in the conduct of the referendum. But they agreed with the High Court that he had not proved this materially affected the result.
The Supreme Court also disagreed with the High Court that the burden of proof required was "beyond all reasonable doubt," and held that all that was required was proof "on the balance of probabilities". However, this was not sufficient to allow Mr Hanafin to win his case, although, as Mr Justice Hamilton pointed out, he won "two thirds" of his case, therefore justifying the decision to award him his costs.
Expressing his pride and relief at the decision, the Minister for Equality and Law Reform, Mr Taylor, said the Divorce Bill would be identical in substance to the draft published during the referendum. A spouse would be able to apply for a divorce if the couple had been living apart for four of the previous five years.
A spokesman for Mr Ahern said the people had voted in the referendum. The Supreme Court supported that decision. There was no doubt about this in any way.
The leader of the Progressive Democrats, Ms Mary Harney, welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the wishes of the people. "We in Ireland are, proud of our status as a Republic, where egalitarianism, social justice and respect for minority rights are visible features of our society," she added.
The Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, said the fact that the decision of the Supreme Court was unanimous was particularly gratifying and the judgments removed any doubt about the ultimate right of the people to speak through the ballot box on matters such as this. The decision now cleared the way for the final step, he continued, the introduction of legislation in the Dail.
Mr Hanafin said in a statement: "Naturally I am disappointed. I accept the outcome as final and wish to pay tribute to the 50 per cent of the electorate who supported the constitutional right to a lifelong marriage."
He conceded that the campaign had nowhere else to go following the Supreme Court decision. "There is no provision in the European Court for an interpretation of the Irish Constitution," he said.
However, when asked whether he had lost the war, he said: "Who knows what's around the corner?"