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It’s about time something was done for same sex gay couples at last.

We seem to be at last making progress when it comes same sex relationships, now if we could just get our money matters in order.

And we have electricity too!………..

Something that I am a little confused about. If you are married abroad is it recognized as a marriage here or as a civil partnership. If it is recognized as a marriage why don’t we have marriage here for same sex couples?

Your headline is a bit misleading. The government won’t be recognising same sex marriages, they will be giving foreign same-sex marriages (which are equal in status to any marriage in their home country) equivalent rights to Irish civil partnerships – which are not equal in status to marriage. So a couple who married in New York won’t be considered “married” here, they’ll be “civil partnered”. I don’t mean to nitpick, but your headline suggested that equal rights exist in Ireland but in fact we still have a way to go yet.

Niall is correct in saying that New York same-sex marriages will be recognised as civil partnerships in Ireland, rather than marriages. Ironically, however, those same-sex couples who married in New York will have more extensive rights and obligations under an Irish civil partnership than they would have if they remained in New York. Same-sex couples married in New York are not in fact treated the same as heterosexual married couples in their home country. Because the Federal Government in the US does not recognise same-sex marriages, couples are not recognised for any federal purpose, including immigration and federal tax. By contrast, in Ireland couples married in New York will be treated the same as spouses for the purpose of immigration and largely the same for the purpose of tax.

Why just those places? There are so many other places that have marriage equality or civil partnerships.

@JR – good point, but as it happens this time last year the former Minister for Justice recognised 33 foreign classes of legal relationship as being entitled to recognition as civil partnerships in Ireland. Included were civil partnerships in 15 jurisdictions (including the UK) and same-sex marriage in 18 jurisdictions. This new statutory instrument adds six new jurisdictions, bringing the total to 39. Some foreign civil partnerships are not recognised in Ireland because they can be dissolved without judicial approval – e.g. France and Slovakia.

@JR BTW, Canadian same-sex marriages are recognised in Ireland as civil partnerships, since January 13, 2011

This will provide important legal security for same-sex couples who formalised their unions abroad but it does not advance equality in any meaningful way and in some respects actually downgrades civil marriages to civil partnership status – yes our laws in this area represented progress but in both practical and symbolic terms, CP’s are not equal to marriage equality. So what we need is for Irish CP’s to be upgraded to marriage. 73% of the Irish public agree (a figure that continues to grow) so let’s get on with it.