THE civil marriages of up to 10 couples married this month are invalid because they failed to provide the necessary three months' notice to the State.
According, to well-placed sources "the number has risen to 10 so far since August 1st but could be higher when all the circumstances surrounding each wedding become clear. It is understood that 100 court exemptions were procured during July, but couples were unable to get exemptions in August as the courts were not sitting.
It is believed that a number of couples pressed ahead with their church weddings, knowing they had not fulfilled the three-month notice period, and left the civil marriage until later.
It is also thought that at least one couple may have switched their wedding from one location to another, without realising they had to issue a fresh notice to the Registrar of Marriages in the new district.
The difficulty only emerged in some instances when the couples came to formally register their marriages. All the couples who find themselves unable to have their marriages registered by the State must go through a civil ceremony after the three month notice period.
Under the Family Law Act, 1995, couples intending to marry must give notice to the Registrar of Marriages for the district in which the marriage is to be solemnised. On their wedding day, they sign a document known as Statutory Form A.
Father Arthur O'Neill, who earlier this year raised the potential difficulties of the three-month notice period with his congregation, said church and State were trying to express the seriousness with which they viewed marriage. Both were "genuinely committed to making marriage work",