Newly-married couples will be required to register their marriages within one month of the event under the Civil Registration Bill, 2003 which is expected to be signed into law before next summer.
The Law Society has warned that some unscrupulous people may not register their marriages in the hope of making it easier to seek an annulment later.
In the past, priests returned the marriage registration form to the registrar, even though they were not legally required to do so.
The new Bill clearly places the onus on the couple and also states that, not less than five days before the ceremony, the couple must sign a declaration in front of the registrar that there is no impediment to the marriage. This could affect couples who are living abroad and returning just before the wedding.
This is in addition to the requirement to give notice of the wedding not less than three months before the event.
Ms Alma Clissmann, parliamentary and law reform executive of the Law Society, said the new Bill was very welcome but she warned that this particular element could "muddy the waters" and lead to inaccuracies in the marriage register.
If a marriage was not registered, people may attempt to nullify it, or to sell a house without the spouse's knowledge, she said.
Ms Clissmann accepted there were safeguards, such as the requirement on the registrar to contact the couple if the form was not received 56 days after the marriage.
However, an unscrupulous person may try to circumvent that, she said. The non-registration of a marriage could be used to frighten a spouse into agreeing to less favourable terms in a separation. "People could use this to muddy the waters a bit," she said. "It's not beyond the bounds of possibility." Some people would use any perceived loophole to nullify a marriage, she said. "We don't know how it will be implemented."
However, Mr Séamus Ó Cléirigh, an tArd Chláraitheoir Cúnta (assistant registrar general of births, deaths and marriages), rejected the criticism and said the Bill would put the responsibility back where it belonged.
He said the priest or person solemnising the marriage could still return the form on behalf of the couple, but the onus was on the couple to ensure that this happened. Sufficient safeguards were built into the Bill, he said, and if a marriage registration form was lost or damaged, the registrar could oversee the completion of a second form.
Meanwhile, for the first time since 1880, the new Bill will provide for the recording of a woman's maiden name on her death certificate.
Previously, only her married name was listed, even if the marriage had ended years previously. This has been welcomed by the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations (CIGO) which lobbied for the change.
However, the genealogists have criticised the exclusion of "place of birth" from the death certificate. Mr Steven Ffeary-Smyrl, of the council, said basic international standards were not being met by excluding this fact.
The Civil Registration Bill will pass through the Houses of the Oireachtas later this year.
