Using Galaxy search engine, I started a search for "divorce in Ireland." Galaxy gives the option to search for a match that includes any search term, or all search terms. Also it offers the option to search the Web for each document by text, title, or link. Galaxy is a remarkable search tool because it can search a query via Galaxy Pages, Gopher titles, or Telnet resources. If these are not enough, other searchable reference materials and directories are included in this site such as Gopher Jewels and Hytelnet services, reference materials (e.g. weather map, dictionaries, Roget's thesaurus, acronym dictionary, etc.), searchable indexes at other sites, searches for people and addresses, etc.

Zillions of Irish-related references were returned by Galaxy but I browsed through them quickly until I found a catchy link to Ireland-Related On-Line Resources Directory. This reference caught my attention because it offered a link to IRLNET Database of Irish Network Resources site which was ranked at the top 5% of all Web sites. Does IRLNET's Home Page deserve its ranking? Yes! IRLNET is a top notch page in that it provides an easy point of access to everything you want to know about Ireland. It has neatly constructed, comprehensive indexical links to various topics that encompass culture, business, current affairs, employment, law, food/drinks, people, politics, medicine, etc. IRLNET also has its own search tool which I found very helpful since it searches for queries within its pages. I decided to explore the other sites that it provided and I found a link to What's Fresh which offered a link to News of Ireland. Included in the News of Ireland site was the issue of divorce that I was looking for.

The document that I found was about the Referendum on Divorce in Ireland. Ireland is one of two Western countries (the other is Malta) who haven't legalized divorce. Yet, events changed on November 25, 1995 when divorce in Ireland was legalized. After a recount of votes the majority seemed to favor the constitutional enablement of divorce where 818,889 voted for divorce and 809,726 voted against it (majority led by 9,163 votes). The Referendum is basically a legal document where the government of Ireland, which favors divorce, explains what the issue entails and asks its citizens to vote Yes.

At the bottom of the Referendum page there is a link that says "vote yes" and I thought that by clicking on "yes" I would add my vote or opinion to their poll. However, the Yes link led me to another site where there was a list of questions and answers regarding the divorce issue. The questions and their answers basically covered many important issues concerning the referendum itself, grounds for divorce, separation, property rights (which is of tremendous concern to farmers), taxes, etc.

Basically, after the last divorce referendum failed in 1986, legal separation was introduced, acknowledging the fact that failed marriages did indeed exist in Ireland. By the time this new referendum was put to the vote 75,000 couples who had been previously married were now legally separated. Therefore, it is my opinion that the referendum was but the final stage in the legal dissolution of marriages that already had been deemed unworkable. The impact of this vote was more of a psychological break with the past where the family was the central unit in Irish society. With this vote the nuclear family was no longer a sacred institution that it once was.

The Referendum page is very helpful because it offers easy to read, common, and important facts regarding divorce and its consequences. It is designed to inform not only the Irish people but also the general public. Therefore, its usefulness to social psychology lies in helping individuals know and understand what divorce entails since not only a psychological impact, but also a material one (e.g. property rights) exists in our times.



Leave a Message for Nitsa Mc Carthy?