Recognition of Same-sex Unions in The Republic of Ireland - Recognition of Foreign Partnerships

Recognition of Foreign Partnerships

Certain foreign partnerships and same-sex marriages are recognised as civil partnerships since 13 January 2011. While Glenn Cunningham and Adriano Vilar are often cited as the first gay couple to have their civil partnership formally recognised in Ireland, in fact several hundred couples were recognised together at the exactly the same time. The couple formed a civil partnership at a ceremony in Northern Ireland in 2010.

Section 5 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 states the criteria used to govern which classes of relationships can be recognised. They are:

• the relationship is exclusive in nature
• the relationship is permanent unless the parties dissolve it through the courts
• the relationship has been registered under the law of that jurisdiction, and
• the rights and obligations attendant on the relationship are, in the opinion of the Minister, sufficient to indicate that the relationship would be treated comparably to a Civil Partnership.

The French PACS is not included, nor are some other legal relationships – for example, the Dutch Civil Partnership and some of the Domestic Partnerships in the United States. The reason is that these kinds of relationships can be dissolved by agreement between the parties (that is by both parties signing a document with a lawyer), not through the courts.