Vol. 491 No. 3
417 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform whether he has satisfied himself that the rules of court relating to the divorce legislation are prepared in such a way as to have no element of threat in them to order a person to court within a limited number of days; and if he will discuss the matter with the Rules of Court Committee. [11964/98]
Jurisdiction in relation to divorce lies with the Circuit Court and the High Court.
In the Circuit Court the requirements for responding to civil bills under rules of court relating to divorce are basically similar to those in existence for responding to ordinary civil bills — if a respondent intends contesting a civil bill he-she is obliged to inform the court accordingly within ten days. In many instances an extension of time outside the ten days is granted. Following this the respondent has a further period of ten days to lodge a defence and this period may be extended by agreement between the parties or as allowed by the court.
The originating procedure is slightly different in the High Court where a special summons is issued with a return date to the Master's Court inserted in the body of the summons. This date must be at least seven days from the date of issue and in general it is well in excess of the minimum seven days, unless the parties insist on urgency.
I do not consider, if the law is to be effective, that the procedures concerning such response periods, and their application, can be regarded as being unreasonable, but if the Deputy has a situation in mind which is the source of particular difficulty, I would be glad if she would write to me about it.
