Minister for Equality and Law Reform, Mr Taylor, is to introduce amending legislation to validate up to 50 new marriages retrospectively.
The Departments of Health and Equality and Law Reform have discovered that the marriages are not recognised in civil law because of administrative errors. They took place after the new three-month notification period came effect on August 1st last.
Pending the introduction of the legislation, the couples have been in an anomalous position with regard to having children, tax law and, in case of death, inheritance rights.
The invalid marriages were disclosed yesterday when a Clare couple, who do not wish to be named, told The Irish Times that they had been notified six weeks after their marriage ceremony that it would not be registered.
Backed up by supporting documentation, they notified the registrar of births, marriages and deaths on April 10th of their intention to marry in Drogheda on August 23rd. They only received acknowledgment of their pre-notification form on May 31st.
They were officially informed on October 30th that it is not possible to register their marriage because the pre-notification form was acknowledged by the registrar for an adjoining district, not the district where it took place.
The Irish Times has confirmed that the Registrar-General of Marriages, who comes under the aegis of the Department of Health, is now examining the circumstances surrounding up to 50 invalid marriages which took place under the new marriage laws after August 1st.
Under the Family Law Act, 1995, introduced by the Minister for Equality and Law Reform, every person intending to marry on or after August 1st, 1996, is required to give three months' written notification to the registrar of marriages of the district in which the marriage is to take place. The marriage would not be valid in civil law without such notification.
Sources in the Department of Equality and Law Reform confirmed last night that up to 50 marriages, conducted since August, are invalid in law due to; administrative and human errors. In most cases notifications were sent to the wrong registrar, but the couples were never informed.
The Minister is now obliged to introduce amending legislation to validate these marriages with retrospective effect.
