Same-sex marriage in the Republic of Ireland

The commission reviewed such areas as property, succession, maintenance, pensions, social welfare and tax, and recommended some changes in the law to provide rights for qualifying cohabitees.

[17] Chairman Denis O'Donovan stated that it was examining these articles "to ascertain the extent to which they are serving the good of individuals and the community, with a view to deciding whether changes in them would bring about a greater balance between the two."

It suggested that there should instead be legislation for a civil partnership registration open to same-sex or opposite-sex couples which would confer succession, maintenance and taxation rights.

The group facilitated a conference on the topic in May 2006, as input to its reports which was attended by experts from other countries which have introduced civil unions and same-sex marriage.

National Economic and Social Forum: In April 2003, the National Economic and Social Forum (NESF) published a report calling for the implementation of equality policies for gay, lesbian and bisexual people, and for the Law Reform Commission to consider models to achieve equal rights for same-sex couples in its then upcoming report.

[38] The legislation also provided rights for participants in long-term cohabiting relationships (opposite-sex or same-sex) who had not entered into a civil partnership or marriage.

This postponement was to allow for input from then ongoing investigations: the Law Reform Commission, the High Court case Zappone v. Revenue Commissioners on the recognition of a Canadian marriage and the Constitutional Review Committee.

In December 2006, on the same day as the High Court judgment in Zappone, Brendan Howlin, an opposition Labour Party TD, tabled a private member's bill on civil partnerships in Dáil Éireann.

[76] Section 5 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 stated the criteria used to govern which classes of relationships could be recognised.

[95] On 10 July 2012, the Dáil referred the issue of whether to make provision for same-sex marriage to the Constitutional Convention, to report back in a year.

[101] With the signing into law of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 on 6 April 2015, same-sex couples have the ability to adopt stepchildren, as well as being able to obtain parental recognition in assisted reproduction methods.

[106] The referendum proposed to add the following text to Article 41 of the Constitution:[107] Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex.

[111] In the aftermath of the result, Minister for Justice and Equality Frances Fitzgerald stated that legislation would be brought through the Oireachtas by summer (i.e. sometime in June or July 2015) to make same-sex marriage a reality.

[114] On 16 September 2015, following the High Court's rejection of the legal challenge contesting the validity of the referendum result,[115] Fitzgerald brought a same-sex marriage bill before cabinet.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice and Equality stated that "the aim is to have the bill enacted as quickly as possible, subject to the legislative process, so that the first same-sex marriages can take place this year.

[5] On 29 October 2015, the bill was signed into law by the Presidential Commission, thus becoming the Marriage Act 2015 (Irish: An tAcht um Pósadh, 2015, pronounced [ənˠ ˌt̪ˠaxt̪ˠ ʊmˠ ˈpˠoːsˠuː, -sˠə]).

"[119] On 5 May 2016, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, James Reilly, announced that the Irish Government had approved the publication of a new adoption bill.

[126] The commencement order was signed by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Katherine Zappone, on 18 October 2017 and the law went into effect the following day.

[127][128] In January 2019, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty, announced that the government had published a bill to amend the Civil Registration Act 2004 to allow lesbian couples who have had donor-assisted children to be automatically registered as their parents.

[87][131] Data published by the Department of Social Protection a few days ahead of the first anniversary of the Marriage Equality referendum showed that 412 same-sex marriages had been performed in Ireland since November 2015,[132] distributed by county as follows: Dublin (213), Cork (43), Limerick (25), Wicklow (17), Galway (14), Donegal, Kildare and Wexford (all three at 11), Kerry (9), Louth (8), Kilkenny (7), Offaly (6), Meath and Waterford (both at 5), Cavan, Sligo and Tipperary (all three at 4), Laois and Mayo (both at 3), Longford, Roscommon and Westmeath (all three at 2), Carlow, Leitrim and Monaghan (all three at 1), and Clare (0).

[134][135] 5,288 same-sex marriages had been performed in Ireland by the end of 2023: Figures for 2020 are much lower than previous years because of the restrictions in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pope is very clear that these pastoral blessings are not a kind of a liturgical or ritual acknowledgment that these unions are equivalent or in any way analogous to the marriage between a man or a woman.

[151] The Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland affirms "the creation ordinance of marriage as the lifelong union of one man and one woman" in its Doctrinal Statement.

[152] The Church of Ireland affirms in its canon law that "according to our Lord's teaching that marriage is in its purpose a union permanent and life-long, for better or worse, till death do them part, of one man with one woman, to the exclusion of all others on either side".

[154] In October 2023, the synod of the Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough passed a motion calling on the Church of Ireland to permit same-sex blessings.

In 2012, Sinn Féin sought to provide opportunities to bring same-sex marriage to the fore by introducing motions of support at the city and county council level.

[190] A survey commissioned by MarriagEquality in February 2009 indicated that 62% of Irish people supported same-sex marriage and would vote in favour of it if a referendum were held.

[197] A February 2014 poll by RED C for RTÉ's Prime Time and the Business Post showed that 76% of voters would vote "yes" to the introduction of same-sex marriage in any referendum.

[198] A poll conducted two months later by The Irish Times and Ipsos MRBI found that 67% of respondents would vote in favour of same-sex marriage and 21% against, with 12% undecided.

[200] A Pew Research Center poll, conducted between April and August 2017 and published in May 2018, showed that 66% of Irish people supported same-sex marriage, 27% were opposed and 7% did not know or had refused to answer.