Barring Order Applications

I remember when I did one of my first barring order applications – I thought it was last September but when I checked it out, it was over 25 years ago. Goodness how time flies.

It was one of those cases where I knew I was going to lose. My client was not arguing that he had not been violent to his wife. His argument was that she had been just as violent to him and that she had told him that she wanted him out and he would never get back into the house again because she was getting a barring order against him. I remember that the wife gave her evidence very honestly and openly and her application for a barring order was refused because the judge accepted my argument that a barring order was not a substitute for a divorce. I said that if the main purpose of the application was to remove the husband permanently from the house, then a barring order should not be granted particularly in circumstances where both sides accepted that there was mutual violence between them on a fairly regular basis.

I remember the judge at the time saying that the barring order is not intended to be an Irish divorce.

I used that argument on a number of occasions over the following few years but I have not used the argument for many years now and I have not heard of any other lawyer using the argument. It now seems to be quite accepted that a barring order is a sort of Irish divorce.

The original purpose of barring orders was to allow a breathing space. The purpose was to enable the two parties stand back in a calmer atmosphere and see if they could work out their differences and perhaps attend counselling or get some other form of third party help. I cannot recall over many years, any judge suggesting that the parties should see if they could resolve their differences in this manner as part of a barring order application.

This is all the more surprising when you consider the emphasis placed on the role of the family in our Constitution. So there you have it. You don’t have to wait four years to get a divorce, you can get a barring order this afternoon.

Kevin Brophy