Sir, - We in MRCS wish to applaud the allocation by the Minister for Social Welfare, Dermot Ahern, of £600,000 for marriage counselling services and £850,000 for a new family affairs unit (The Irish Times, January 5th).
Noting the compassion being demonstrated by the appropriate trebling of funding to Family Mediation Services (who specialise in the positive ending of marriages), we hope and implore that this will be matched by a comparable injection of funding into prevention of marital breakdown.
Money is urgently needed for (a) research into what makes marriages work; (b) education for relationships; (c) preparation and maintenance programmes for marriages and relationships; and (d) easily accessible counselling services available to couples when early difficulty arises in the relationship, eg pressure points can occur after the arrival of children, when the original dynamics of a partnership is altered.
We are very encouraged by the leadership and creativity shown by Mr Ahern and his Department. - Yours, etc.,
From Ruth Barror
Chief Executive Officer, Marriage and Relationship Counselling Services, Grafton Street, Dublin 2.