9 - An ‘Unhappy Affair’: Divorce in Independent Ireland, 1922–1950

Summary

Marriage was often afforded high status as a societal stabiliser in newly-established states and the Irish Free State, operative from 1922, was no exception. Unlike Northern Ireland which adopted the parliamentary system of divorce, the Irish Free State provided no mechanism for private bills of divorce to proceed. Although a range of opines existed on divorce provision, the government sought advice from the Irish Catholic hierarchy whose position was steadfast: there should be no mechanism to divorce in the new state. Although there was no popular call for divorce in the new state, as Yeats infamously highlighted, removing the already restrictive parliamentary route from Irish petitioners raised concerns about minority rights in the new state. Subsequent consideration of divorce was often religiously charged but, as in both Westminster and Northern Ireland, this lacked a regimented religious or party divide. Divorce was subsequently banned in the 1937 Irish constitution and divorcees and those seeking divorce law reform were frequently lampooned by the Catholic church as morally suspect.