This article is from page 1 of the 2011-08-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 1 JPG
CLARE marriages are bending under the strain of the economic recession with a record number of Clare couples seeking marriage counselling in 2010. Abuse of the internet is also being highlighted as a recent cause of marital disharmony.
Figures obtained by The Clare People reveal that the number of counselling hours providing by the ACCORD agency in Ennis skyrocketed last year – growing by more than 85 per cent compared to the previous year. Counselling hours provided by the Catholic Marriage Counselling Agency grew dramatically faster in Clare than in any other county in 2010 – with the national average growth in hours provided standing at just 8 per cent.
A total of 517 hours for 100 couples were provided at the ACCORD offices in Ennis in 2010, compared to 278 hours for 68 cases on 2009.
The increase in counselling hours is being blamed on the effects of the recession on couples as well as a number of difficulties being caused by the internet.
According to the agency, the number of relationship difficulties brought about by addictions to internet pornography, online gambling and the abuse of social networking sites increased dramatically in 2010.
“I’m not surprised by these figures for Clare, we have been hearing this from the counsellors in Ennis for a number of months and we had expecting this sort of dramatic rise,” said ACCORD counselling manager Stephen Cummins.
“I think this is a combination of many different factors [which have brought about the increase]. I think trouble in a relationship is rarely brought about by just one factor except maybe in a case of someone having a drink or drug problem perhaps.