Social media behaviour becoming 'common problem' in Irish marriages

Accord Catholic Marriage Care Service believes constant access to technology has removed the "cooling off" period following a domestic argument.

Research conducted in Maynooth of over 3,000 clients over two years found that both men and women agreed that social media and technology "behaviour" caused difficulties in marriages and relationships.

Accord said it is now tailoring its service to deal with the issue following feedback from couples.

Bishop Denis Nulty, Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin, and president of Accord, said: "Social media is a huge issue. Pope Francis spoke about this at Croke Park and we need to be digitally conscious.

"We're dictated by gadgets so being clued-in is important."

On the lack of a "cooling-off" period he added: "When you send a text, a tweet or a Whatsapp message, there's no way of pulling it back, and it causes huge heartache for everyone involved.

"As we shape our marriage preparation courses in the future, we'll be taking this into consideration.

"We have a low divorce rate in Ireland, and I would like to keep it low. I have no doubt people in Ireland still take marriage very seriously."

16,048 individuals attended its marriage preparation courses across the island of Ireland in 2018, down almost 800 from 2017.

Separately, Accord counsellors provided 24,180 counselling sessions to individuals and couples during 2018 throughout Ireland, north and south. This figure is also lower than 2017, which saw 26,946 people attend counselling.

The bishop attributes some of the drop in figures to couples attending different private counselling services.

Other "common problem areas" from clients attending Accord counselling included unresolved arguments, inappropriate behaviour during arguments and satisfaction with their sexual relationship.

It said 75 per cent of clients whose data was reviewed rated their relationship as improved after counselling.