Marriage Procedure
MARRIAGE ACT 2015
An Act to amend the Civil Registration Act 2004 to remove the impediment to marriage of the parties being of the same sex; to repeal certain provisions of Part 7A of that Act relating to registration of civil partnerships; to make provision in relation to religious bodies; to provide for the recognition of marriages under the law of a place other than the State; to amend the Succession Act 1965 , the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 and the Gender Recognition Act 2015 ; to amend other enactments and to provide for matters connected therewith.
[29 th October, 2015]
Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:
PART 1
Preliminary and General
Short title and commencement
1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Marriage Act 2015.
(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may, after consultation with the Minister for Social Protection, appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or provisions.
Definitions
2. In this Act—
“Act of 2004” means the Civil Registration Act 2004 ;
“Act of 2010” means the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 ;
“Minister” means the Minister for Justice and Equality.
Expenses
3. The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, be paid out of monies provided by the Oireachtas.
PART 2
Impediments to Marriage
Amendment of section 2(2) of Act of 2004
4. Section 2(2) of the Act of 2004 is amended by—
(a) the deletion of paragraph (e),
(b) the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (f):
“(f) one of the parties to the marriage is, or, other than where section 2B applies, both are, already party to a subsisting civil partnership, or”,
and
(c) the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (f) :
“(g) the marriage would be void by virtue of section 2A.”.
Prohibited degrees of relationship
5. The Act of 2004 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 2:
“2A. (1) For the purposes of this Act, any prohibition in this Act or any other enactment or rule of law on marriage between two persons of the opposite sex arising by virtue of a relationship of consanguinity or affinity between them, shall, subject to any necessary modifications, apply to marriage between two persons of the same sex as it applies to marriage between two persons of the opposite sex.
(2) A marriage purported to be solemnised which contravenes a prohibition referred to in subsection (1) shall be void.”.
No impediment where subsisting civil partnership with each other
6. The Act of 2004 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 2A (inserted by section 5 ):
“2B. There is not an impediment to a marriage by virtue of both of the parties to the intended marriage being parties to a subsisting civil partnership with each other.”.
PART 3
Religious Bodies
Religious bodies
7. (1) Nothing in this Act or any other enactment shall be construed as obliging—
(a) a religious body to recognise a particular form of marriage ceremony for the purposes of section 51(3)(c) of the Act of 2004, or
(b) a religious solemniser to solemnise a marriage in accordance with a form of marriage ceremony which is not recognised by the religious body of which the religious solemniser is a member.
(2) In this section—
“form of marriage ceremony” includes that form in so far as it relates to the sex of the parties to the ceremony;
“religious body” has the meaning assigned to it by section 45 of the Act of 2004;
“religious solemniser” means a member of a religious body standing registered in the Register of Solemnisers maintained under section 53 of the Act of 2004.