civil partnerships became legal in ireland on 16 november 2015.
when did civil partnerships become legal in ireland?
16 november 2015
civil partnerships (), introduced by the "civil partnership and certain rights and obligations of cohabitants act 2010" (), gave same-sex couples rights and responsibilities similar, but not equal to, those of civil marriage. the ability to enter into a civil partnership ended on 16 november 2015. constitutional protections granted to spouses, such as the spouse of a witness not being compelled to give evidence against their spouse in most cases, is one example of protections granted under civil partnerships. spouses may further claim privilege in so far as necessary to protect the constitutional right to marital privacy. no such constitutional protections exist for civil partnerships. further inequalities in relation to the family, immigration and other types of irish law exist. the legislation provides rights for participants in long-term cohabiting relationships (opposite- or same-sex) who have not entered into a civil partnership or marriage. the following entry focuses primarily on the same-sex civil partnership aspect of the act, as opposed to the cohabitation aspect.
same-sex marriage in the republic of ireland
in june 2018, the supreme court ruled in the steinfeld-keidan case that restricting civil partnerships to same-sex couples was discriminatory and mandated that the government change the law, though did not set a timeline for doing so. in response, the prime minister announced in october 2018 that civil partnerships would be opened to heterosexual couples. legislation that requires the secretary of state to issue regulations amending the civil partnership act, so that opposite-sex couples may enter into civil partnerships, was passed by parliament on 15 march 2019. the bill received royal assent on 26 march 2019. the legislation went into effect on 26 may 2019. section 2 of the act requires the secretary of state to amend the civil partnership act 2004 by 31 december 2019, so that people of the opposite sex may enter into civil partnerships. this expansion of civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples applied only in england and wales, and not scotland or northern ireland. the scottish government announced in june 2019 it would introduce similar legislation later in the year. amendments passed to the northern ireland (executive formation) bill mean opposite-sex civil partnerships will also be expanded to couples in northern ireland on 13 january 2020, assuming a northern ireland executive is not formed by 21 october 2019.
civil partnership in the united kingdom