asked the Minister for Justice the number of orders currently in operation barring (a) husbands and (b) wives from the family home.

Limerick East): The specific information sought by the Deputy is not available from existing court statistics. The best indication I can give is that, in the District Court, the number of barring orders made during the judicial year which ended on 31 July 1981 was 1,188. It would not be possible, except by the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of staff time, to determine the number of orders made in the High Court during that period, the number of orders currently in operation or the break-down as between husbands and wives. No barring orders were made in the Circuit Court in that period as it did not then have jurisdiction.