When Dr Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando presented his draft law on divorce on the 6 July, 2010 he said his Bill also proposes “that all possible avenues for reconciliation should have been exhausted before the institution of proceedings.”

On reconciliation it is good to consider what Chief Justice Dr Vincent Degaetano said in his speech ‘The Family In The Dock: The Maltese Experience’ at the International Conference on the Family in Bugibba, Malta on 12 March, 2010: “As to mediation, while the statistics show that it is a useful tool to reach separation by mutual consent, it yet remains to be seen whether more can be done at this stage to effect reconciliation between the spouses. Perhaps some sort of quality assurance should be undertaken of the mediation process to find out whether this goal of reconciliation is being properly approached by the mediators, and what can be done possibly to improve the rate of reconciliations. Mediation in family law cases has now been in place for just over six years, and it is about time that all the stakeholders sit down round the table and examine dispassionately the strengths and weaknesses of the regime introduced in December of 2003.”

Clinical psychologist and family therapist Dr Angela Abela, the director of the Malta University Centre for Family Studies, some time before pointed to the lack of research and studies on marital separations: She declared: “We do not know who these couples are or after how many years of marriage they are separating, important information to formulate policies”... “We cannot continue to rely on platitudes and opinion makers and we need hard facts,” She also called for “relationship classes” and “family therapy services”.

In a broad interview on this subject in another section of the press, philosopher Peter Serracino Inglott opined that “... it is not so much discussion that we need, but research to ascertain whether divorce is a social necessity.”

Dr Pullicino Orlando indicated he expected that a full scale debate on his Bill in Parliament should be held by next January. Considering the above it is doubtful whether this goal can be realistically reached in such a short time, even more when he himself, the Prime Minister and many others have declared that “the strengthening of the institution of marriage” is considered of paramount importance.

The University of Malta Centre for Family Studies can, perhaps, coordinate the needed research on marital separations and reconciliation services with the Family Court, the Church Tribunal on Marriages, and the Marriage Counselling Section of the Cana Movement which has been doing this kind of work in Malta and Gozo for the last 50 years.

Tony Mifsud

Marsascala