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newsexaminer                                                                                     3




              There has been                                                                                                     Married  couples
         another increase in the     Sturgeon Praises EU                                                                   are set to face a reduced  IRISH
         number of people who are                                                                                          separation period of two
         homeless.                                                                                                         years  before   they  can
           Figures for April show    Solidarity And                                                                        divorce in Ireland.        EXAMINER
         10,378 people are now                                                                                                It follows a landslide refer-
         living   in   emergency                                                                                           endum vote to liberalize the  |
         accommodation in Ireland    Support For Ireland                                                                   nation’s divorce laws.
         - almost 3,800 of whom                                                                                               An 82% Yes vote was     May
         are children.                                                                                                     of this morning at Dublin
           A total of 1,729 families                                                                                       Castle.
                                                                                                                           confirmed in the early hours 29th,
         were also recorded as                                                                                                Just 17% of the 1.7 million  2019
         homelessness.                                                                                                     people who voted opted for
           That is an increase of                                                                                          No.
         73 on the figures released                                                                                           Justice Minister Charlie
         for the previous month.                                                                                           Flanagan is now set to bring
           “The increase in those                                                                                          forward a Bill to amend
         experiencing   homeless-                                                                                          Section 5 of the Family Law
         ness, the fourth in as many                                                                                       (Divorce) Act 1996 to reduce
         months shows that some-                                                                                           the minimum living apart
         thing is still very wrong                                                                                         period to two years during
         with the way we are deal-                                                                                         the previous three years.
         ing with homelessness,”                                                                                              However, he said “core
         said Depaul CEO Kerry                                                                                             protections for marriage”
         Anthony.                                                                                                          will remain in the constitu-
                                                                                                                           tion.
           “We know house build-
                                                                                                                              “The Government wants
         ing is the real solution but                                                                                      to ensure that the process for
         in the interim we need to                                                                                         obtaining a divorce is fair,
         take measures that stop                                                                                           dignified and humane, and
         people entering homeless-                                                                                         allows both parties to move
         ness.                                                                                                             forward with their lives with-
           “We are urging people                                                                                           in a reasonable time frame,”
         to stay sympathetic to                                                                                            he said.
         those experiencing home-         eople are waking up    contrasting that with Ireland  said.                         “It is therefore my inten-
                                                                                                “I want to see Scotland
                                                           that
                                          to
                                              the
                                                    fact
         lessness. There is a danger  PIreland is receiving      that has been shown real sol-  having the choice of inde-  tion to reduce the living apart
                                                                 idarity and support from the
         with such high numbers      more support from the       European Union.              pendence within this term of  period to a minimum of two
         that the public may see     EU than Scotland is from       “Suddenly this idea of    the   Scottish  Parliament   out of the preceding three
         homelessness as an issue    Westminster,       Nicola   being a small independent    which ends in May 2021, so   years and to do so by way of
         that cannot be solved. That  Sturgeon has said.         country in the European      towards the latter half of next  ordinary legislation, which I
         homelessness is simply a      The Scottish First Minister  Union, we only have to look  year would be when I think is  will bring forward as soon as
         part of everyday life. This  criticized the London gov-  at Ireland to see the benefits  the right time for that  possible.”
                                                                                                                              Couples currently have to
         cannot happen.”             ernment     for    treating  of that and many people are  choice.”                    prove to a court that they
           Housing        Minister   Scotland with “utter con-   having their eyes opened.”     Ms Sturgeon also said the  have been separated for a
         Eoghan Murphy says fam-     tempt” over Brexit.            Ms Sturgeon was speaking  SNP has examined Ireland’s   long period – four of the pre-
         ily homelessness continues    “We voted over 60% to     in a public conversation with  path to independence in their  vious five years – before they
         to be very challenging. C   remain, we have tried very  Dearbhail McDonald at the    own planning.                can secure a divorce.
                                     hard in the wake of the UK-  Royal Irish Academy in        “The proposition that my      Voters were asked to
           The Housing Minister      wide Brexit vote to find com-  Dublin during a visit to  party is putting forward now  amend the state’s constitution
         says websites should not    promises and protect our    Ireland today.               is that we should follow the  to hand politicians the power
         be allowed to advertise     interests,  and  we   have     She  said  she   expects  same path that Ireland fol-  to set the length of the “pause
         sub-standard accommo-       worked hard across party    Scotland will vote for inde-  lowed when it became inde-  period”.
         dation.                     lines to try and prevent the  pendence the next time a ref-  pendent, we use the pound   Couples can currently
                                     worst impact of Brexit, and
                                                                 erendum is held, adding that
                                                                                              which is our currency until
           He provided an update     we have been ignored,” she  the relationship between her  such times as the economic  secure a judicial separation
         on short-term letting regu-  said during an event in    nation and Ireland will grow  conditions are right to move  in a shorter time frame, but
         lations to an Oireachtas    Dublin.                     even stronger then.          to an independent Scottish   they must then proceed to a
         Housing Committee on          “Votes in the Scottish       “There will be another    currency, it’s a perfectly well-  second legal stage to obtain
         Wednesday morning.          Parliament have been cast   Scottish independence refer-  trodden path,” she said.    a formal court-approved
           Eoghan Murphy said        aside, they have even in the  endum and I will make a pre-  Ms Sturgeon will meet     divorce.
                                                                                                                              Those advocating a No
         publishers need to take     process of the Brexit fiasco  diction today that Scotland  Irish business leaders, school  vote had warned against the
         responsibility for the prop-  taken powers away from the  will vote for independence  children and Taoiseach Leo  prospect    of   “quickie
         erties they are advertising  Scottish Parliament in order  and we will become an inde-  Varadkar during her visit to  divorces”, expressing con-
         online.                     to centralize how they deal  pendent country just like   Dublin.                      cern about giving politicians
           He says the Government    with all of this.           Ireland, and the strong rela-  She will stress the impor-  a free hand to potentially
         is considering legislation    “Scotland has been treated  tionship between our two   tance of the Irish export mar-  reduce the waiting time even
         on the issue. C             with     contempt       by  countries now will become    ket to Scotland, worth €1.7   further in the future. C
                                     Westminster and people are  even stronger soon,” she     billion in 2017. C


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