Gay weddings total 1,082 in year since law was passed

21 gay couples a week are tying the knot

THERE have been more than 1,000 same-sex marriages in the 12 months since it became legal.

Ireland is also attracting couples from countries where gay marriage is not recognised, according to the authorities.

An average of 21 same-sex marriages per week have been taking place since the law was amended just over a year ago, with county registrars officiating at 1,082 unions.

The largest number of unions took place in Dublin City South with 450 of the 1,082 weddings recorded in Dublin 2, which includes the main registry office on Grand Canal Street.

Longford and Limerick recorded the fewest same-sex marriages with just two each, followed by Roscommon (3) and Leitrim (5).

Irish-based wedding blog One Fab Day has noticed a spike in same-sex marriages. The website is the largest specialist marriage site in Europe with 380,000 followers every month. Creative director Susan Gallagher said she and her colleagues ‘had noticed people holding back until same-sex marriage was legalised’.

One Fab Day featured many gay weddings in its Every Love Story Is Equal campaign in the run-up to last year’s referendum.

‘We feature 50 to 60 weddings a week with a large UK audience,’ she said.

‘Currently we are assisting a gay Polish couple preparing for their wedding here as there is no samesex marriage back home for them,’ Ms Gallagher added.

By the first anniversary of the marriage referendum in May, 412 couples had tied the knot. A year earlier the referendum on a constitutional amendment was carried by a 62% majority.

It took a further six months for the constitutional change to be turned into law with the passage of the Marriage Act 2015 on November 16 last year.

The day after, Ireland’s first same sex marriage took place in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, between Cormac Gollogly and Richard Dowling.

Like many of the couples who tied the knot over the last year, Mr Gollogly and Mr Dowling opted for the ceremony after an earlier civil partnership. They became civil partners in Kilshane House in Co. Tipperary in September 2015.

The Dublin-based couple decided to keep their marriage ceremony low-key, exchanging their vows before registrar Mary-Claire Heffernan and two witnesses, Jane McLoughlin and Vitaliy Halstyan.

‘We got civil-partnered on September 18 and all our family and friends were there. That was really our wedding day,’ Mr Dowling explained after the wedding ceremony was over. ‘This is formalising the legalities of our marriage. We wanted to try and get in the history books and be first across the line.’

They were originally hoping, once the marriage referendum was passed, that the September event would be their official marriage. But the legislation was not in place in time. They then decided to proceed with the civil partnership ceremony and have a civil marriage when it became legal eight weeks later.

In the weeks after the passing of the May 2015 referendum, there was speculation that the new law would provide business opportunities for wedding planners.

Within the EU, countries such as Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Croatia have no provision for gay marriage. Most of these countries have constitutions that define marriage as being between a man and a woman and would require a referendum to extend civil unions to gay couples.

Finland plans to introduce full gay marriage rights in March. Same-sex marriages are recognised in Britain, though not in Northern Ireland. It has been legal in all US states since June 2015.

Under the Amsterdam Treaty, EU member states are not allowed discriminate against homosexuals in employment but do not have to facilitate equal marriage rights. Eleven of the 28 EU states do not allow adoption by gay or lesbian people. Three years ago, the EU Council instructed all EU diplomats to defend gay rights in states were gay couples are persecuted.

‘We’re helping a gay Polish couple to marry’