The first civil partnerships in Ireland have already taken place,
more than a month earlier than the planned introduction of the
ceremonies.
It is understood that at least one member of both couples
involved are suffering from serious illnesses with a risk of that one
may die before the three month notice period for a civil partnership
would elapse.
The first couple’s civil partnership was registered on 7th February
2011 and a second, on the 11th of February.
Both couples were male.
The
Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants
Act, 2010 came into force on January 1st 2011 and requires a minimum of
three months notice between the application for a civil partnership and
the date of the ceremony.
However, a judge can waive the notice perioid on compassionate grounds, primarily the serious illness of one of the partners.
Tiernan Brady of the Gay and Lesbian Network told the Sunday Times
that celebration of the first two partnerships were historic milestones.
“It’s really fantastic,” he said. “It’s the culmination of a long
process. It’s great to have state recognition for these partnerships.
It’s a gigantic leap forward for Ireland. Civil partnership addresses
real needs for real couples.”
A
gay couple who had a civil partnership in Northern Ireland and later
became naturalised as Irish citizens, became the first officially
recognised civil partners in the state last month.
Civil partnerships offer some of the same rights to property and
pensions as marriage but do not have the same tax status.
This element
was to have been confirmed in a finance bill that has now been curtailed
as a result of Ireland’s general election on February 25th.
All parties
have pledged to introduce the changes to taxation law after the
election.
However, it is not known if the changes will be retrospective
and cover the couples who have already registered their partnership,
should one of the pair die.
Like Britain, many campaigners say civil partnerships are not enough
and the Labour party has pledged in its manifesto to hold a referendum
to decide on the introduction of same-sex marriages.
The Labour party
has also pledged to allow gay couples to jointly adopt children.
In
Britain, the first civil partnership to be registered involved a
terminally ill man, who was given special dispensation to ignore the
fifteen day notice period of a civil partnership.