Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Here's your quick guide to the divorce referendum

Get up to speed.

TheJournal.ie / YouTube

THERE’S AN AWFUL lot of votes taking place next Friday, 24 May, but one you might not have heard of yet is the divorce referendum.

The government has proposed changing two parts of the Constitution: One relating to the amount of time a couple must live apart before being granted a divorce, the other relating to the recognition of divorces granted in a different jurisdiction.

We’ve put together a quick guide for you on the vote, but here it is summed up at lighting speed:

  • Currently, a couple must live apart for four out of the previous five years in order to apply for a divorce, under Article 41.3.2(i)
  • 41.3.3 is more complicated. The Constitution allows the government to ban someone from remarrying for the lifetime of the other party of the marriage if the divorce isn’t recognised by government. Legislation allows the government to recognise foreign divorces, but it depends on the country and when the divorce occurred.
  • There will be a single question on the ballot paper to change both.
  • Yes vote would remove Article 41.3.2(i). The government would then introduce legislation which would serve a similar function. The laws currently planned by Fine Gael would reduce the time frame to two of the previous three years. Voting yes would also tidy up 41.3.3, replacing it with “provision may be made by law for the recognition under the law of the State of a dissolution of marriage granted under the civil law of another state”.
  • A No vote would keep the Constitution as it is.

Watch the video above for more.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
13 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James Doherty
    Favourite James Doherty
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:12 PM

    Beautiful animals. Witnessed them myself when anchored off St. John’s point in donegal Bay in 1997. The circled the reefer we were working on a few times to investigate.

    253
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Logan Shepherd
    Favourite Logan Shepherd
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:12 PM

    @James Doherty: Jealous here.

    120
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Vin
    Favourite Vin
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:23 PM

    @James Doherty: they can mess you up though. Make great whites look like goldfish

    28
    See 8 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gordon Comstock
    Favourite Gordon Comstock
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:38 PM

    @Vin: don’t think they’ve ever killed anybody in the wild. Great whites have a few kills under their belt though.

    42
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liam McDonald
    Favourite Liam McDonald
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:46 PM

    @Vin: they? You don’t say? Never would have guessed. Thank you for clearing that up.

    31
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liam McDonald
    Favourite Liam McDonald
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 8:35 PM

    @Vin: exactly. Grammar nazis are anaerobic bacteria.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Vin
    Favourite Vin
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 8:43 PM

    @Liam McDonald: having a chat to yourself there?

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liam McDonald
    Favourite Liam McDonald
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 8:46 PM

    @Vin: deleting comments is so juvenile my friend. Well played big man

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liam McDonald
    Favourite Liam McDonald
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 9:04 PM

    @Vin: but you obviously no you can big man. You deletedbthe post re low iq and oxygen fairly rapid. To clarify, the point I was getting at was, that someone who needs to correct someone else on a point as low in consequence as grammar, is clearly lacking or feeling inferior in some department.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bwian Nowlan
    Favourite Bwian Nowlan
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 9:06 PM

    @Vin: Wow thanks for your insight uncle albert.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Whitehead
    Favourite Paul Whitehead
    Report
    May 17th 2020, 11:13 AM

    @Liam McDonald: You really should not start a sentence without capitalising the first word. It’s very poor grammar. Liam needs to apply himself and concentrate in class.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seriousnojoke
    Favourite Seriousnojoke
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:34 PM

    That’s nice. When Humans are in lockdown, Nature can finally take a breath.

    210
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute tom brennan
    Favourite tom brennan
    Report
    May 17th 2020, 12:26 AM

    @Seriousnojoke: Very true, albeit the poachers in Africa are upping activity since covid is affecting protection for them.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute HonDeDeise
    Favourite HonDeDeise
    Report
    May 17th 2020, 8:00 AM

    @Seriousnojoke: is the sighting not more related to global warming??

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mark Clancy
    Favourite Mark Clancy
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:16 PM

    Beautiful seen them going up the liffey when sitting on boardwalk

    49
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hello DAVE!
    Favourite Hello DAVE!
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:17 PM

    @Mark Clancy: they were bicycle whales!

    165
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ross
    Favourite Ross
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 8:10 PM

    @Mark Clancy: think you’re mistaking whales for deco in his snorkeling outfit looking for the bag of gear he threw in while getting chased a few hours previous

    97
    See 5 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joey Walsh
    Favourite Joey Walsh
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 8:12 PM

    @Mark Clancy: A killer Whale in the Liffey?? Were you smoking something that day

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute xDemo17
    Favourite xDemo17
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 9:25 PM

    @Hello DAVE!: Hahahaha

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Derek Gannon
    Favourite Derek Gannon
    Report
    May 17th 2020, 12:05 AM

    @Mark Clancy: were you sober at the time ?

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Hayes*
    Favourite John Hayes*
    Report
    May 17th 2020, 12:27 AM

    @Hello DAVE!: nah man they were the whales of a pram.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Whitehead
    Favourite Paul Whitehead
    Report
    May 17th 2020, 11:16 AM

    @Mark Clancy: I have seen them in Blessington lakes.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Larry Betts
    Favourite Larry Betts
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:34 PM

    But are they Real Whales,Provisional Whales or Continuity Whales? Who knows,maybe they’re not even dissidents.

    50
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joe Toner
    Favourite Joe Toner
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:49 PM

    @Larry Betts:
    One looks like the Prince of Whales.

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute tom brennan
    Favourite tom brennan
    Report
    May 17th 2020, 12:21 AM

    @Larry Betts: They’re not whales at all lad they’re a species of dolphin

    12
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cupid Stunt
    Favourite Cupid Stunt
    Report
    May 18th 2020, 6:00 AM

    @Larry Betts: muppet

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pauline Gallagher
    Favourite Pauline Gallagher
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:33 PM

    Awesome.

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joe Toner
    Favourite Joe Toner
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:23 PM

    We’ll all be eaten alive in our beds!!

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Logan Shepherd
    Favourite Logan Shepherd
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:33 PM

    @Joe Toner: Only water beds Joe ..

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joe Toner
    Favourite Joe Toner
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:43 PM

    @Logan Shepherd:
    Oh… Thanks Logan… I can sleep easy now……..Just thinking. If the house catches fire and I am asleep in a water bet, would I be poached to death???

    34
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alec Silke
    Favourite Alec Silke
    Report
    May 17th 2020, 6:42 AM

    @Joe Toner: that was funny i got an good 10min belly laugh at 6.35 am just heading off to work

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute martin maguire
    Favourite martin maguire
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 9:04 PM

    “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gerard Jennings
    Favourite Gerard Jennings
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:11 PM

    Swimming along side a boat or being chased by at boat(s)

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Logan Shepherd
    Favourite Logan Shepherd
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 7:23 PM

    @Gerard Jennings: It would have been nice to see without the boats and just the drone footage.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alex Marquis
    Favourite Alex Marquis
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 10:13 PM

    Ach boll.x I’m already too late for the “bigger boat” comment!

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Wayne Connor
    Favourite Wayne Connor
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 11:09 PM

    @Alex Marquis: “ Fair well and adieu
    to you fair Spanish ladies “

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tiktok
    Favourite Tiktok
    Report
    May 16th 2020, 9:28 PM

    Is that 2 meters now?

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brendan Walsh
    Favourite Brendan Walsh
    Report
    May 17th 2020, 1:32 PM

    Killer Whales such a sensational headline. Call them Orcas. Beautiful creatures treated like crap by humans who have forcefully captured them from their pods and made them live in the equivalent of a bathtub for 50 years, to do tricks in return for a few dead fish.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute HairyTeeth
    Favourite HairyTeeth
    Report
    May 17th 2020, 6:17 PM

    @Brendan Walsh: exactly, they’re Orcas, Killer Whale is an awful name and really isn’t used that much any more.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stewart O Neill
    Favourite Stewart O Neill
    Report
    May 17th 2020, 11:18 AM

    So jelious

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Hargan
    Favourite Peter Hargan
    Report
    May 17th 2020, 12:07 PM

    wonder is Comet aka “Dopey Dick” still alive?

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds