Just in from the Department of Justice and Law Reform
Ahern Welcomes Coming Into Law of Civil Partnership
and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010
The Minister for Justice & Law Reform, Mr. Dermot Ahern T.D., welcomed the coming into law of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010.
President Mary McAleese this morning signed the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009. Minister Ahern said: “This most one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation to be enacted since independence. Its legislative advance has seen an unprecedented degree of unity and support within both Houses of the Oireachtas.
This Act provides enhanced rights and protections for many thousands of Irish men and women. Ireland will be a better place for its enactment. This new law provides, for the first time, legal recognition for same-sex couples in Ireland. It is of tremendous social significance, for the couples who can now register as partners, for their friends and families – ultimately, for all of us.”The Act also provides for a cohabitants’ redress scheme, which will provide a ‘safety-net’ for financially dependent long-term cohabitants on the end of a relationship.
It is expected that changes to the tax and social welfare code will be made in the next finance and social welfare Bills. The Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 is expected to be commenced when those changes take effect.
Update - The list of bills signed into law by the President from her website.
Thats great news, however when will it all happen.
The Greens are saying January for the first civil partnerships. That would mean the Act would have to be commenced three months before that e.g. around October I.
(Three months notice is required before a civil partnership can be celebrated unless there are exceptional circumstances e.g. one of the prospective civil partners is seriously ill and an application is made to court to shorten the notice period.)
The Greens appear to be singing for a separate hymn sheet to the rest of the Government where a somewhat longer timeframe has been suggested but not confirmed.
If we follow the timetable that you quote the Budget is not until December and consequently the Finance and Social Welfare bills are not normally passed until April or May. Commence the Act on May I and its August I, 2011 before a civil Partnership, for the vast majority of gays and lesbians, can take place in Ireland.
Many others jurisdiction which have introduced civil partnership or same sex marriage announce well in advance the start date. Why are we in Ireland left guessing?
Have we to watch every twitch of Ministers’ faces for the next year while we interpret parse and analyse for clues on when we will get our Civil Rights (or at least some of them).
Personally I would prefer to examine the entails of dead animals to predict the future although no doubt the Greens would rush a Bill through the Dail to outlaw it as soon as they hear of it!
Is it so difficult to pick a day to commence the Act and stick to it and allow gays and lesbians to name the day, hire the venues and send save-the-day cards?
Just the little preliminaries that many have been waiting their whole lives to do.
I was told that the President has signed the second bill, dealing with finances.