I admire Tony Mifsud's Panglossian optimism in his letter titled For More Services To Litigating Couples (June 18).

He seems to have persuaded himself that in marriage counselling, mediation and reconciliation services - and, for good measure, he now adds "more family therapy, psychotherapy, psychology and other related services" - he has found a miracle cure, a silver bullet, for preventing irretrievably broken marriages from ending. He probably also believes that if the world had more doctors, nurses and surgeons there would be no illness or disease.

But in his relentless advocacy for improving mediation, counselling and reconciliation services - a position which I support - he fails to address the 64,000 dollar question: what should the state do when a marriage - despite even the best counselling and reconciliation services - is deemed nonetheless to have irretrievably broken down.

Less emotion and greater objectivity might lead him logically to the conclusion that, after every possible effort has been made to save a marriage, there is only one civilised legal remedy available to the state, and that is to allow the civil dissolution of that marriage and the possibility for legally separated couples to remarry.

The introduction of legislation to this effect should now be an imperative for any government which says it has justice and the promotion of the common good of society at its core.