asked the Minister for Justice the number of proceedings instituted (a) in the High Court and (b) in the Circuit Court for each of the last ten years under (i) the Guardianship of Infants Act, 1964, and (ii) the Married Women's Status Act, 1957; the number instituted in each court since May, 1976, under the Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses and Children) Act, 1976; the number of proceedings instituted in the High Court only for cases, (iii) involving a decree of divorce a mensa et toro, (iv) involving a decree of nullity of marriage, (v) under the Adoption Acts and (vi) since 1972, under the Married Women (Maintenance in case of Desertion) Act, 1886, as amended by the Courts Act, 1971.
Written Answers. - Court Proceedings.
113.
The annual statistics of High Court and Circuit Court business are not compiled in such a way as to provide any of the figures requested. Most of the figures sought have, however, been specially compiled from court records and are given in the table below. In so far as High Court proceedings of the kinds mentioned at (i), (ii) and (v) of the question are concerned, the figures could not be specially compiled without the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of staff time.
|
Calendar Years |
|||||||||||
|
1966 |
1967 |
1968 |
1969 |
1970 |
1971 |
1972 |
1973 |
1974 |
1975 |
||
|
Proceedings instituted under or involving: |
|||||||||||
|
(i) Guardianship of Infants Act, 1964 in the Circuit Court |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
|
|
(ii) Married Women's Status Act, 1957 in the Circuit Court |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses and Children) Act, 1976 since May, 1976: |
|||||||||||
|
in the High Court |
4 |
||||||||||
|
”” Circuit Court |
2 |
||||||||||
|
(iii) A decree of divorce a mensa et toro in the High Court |
15 |
21 |
25 |
31 |
40 |
26 |
30 |
26 |
51 |
43 |
|
|
(iv) A decree of nullity of marriage in the High Court |
0 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
8 |
8 |
|
|
(vi) Married Women (Maintenance in case of Desertion) Act, 1886 as amended by the Courts Act, 1971, since 1972 in the High Court |
0 |
4 |
6 |
32 |