THE Cabinet has approved legislation to validate retrospectively up to 70 marriages of people who failed to provide three months' notice to the Registrar of Marriages for the districts where the weddings took place. Not notifying the correct registrar has caused problems for some couples. Marriages were notified in one area, but the wedding subsequently took place in another registrar's area.
The problem surfaced when the requirement to give three months' notice came into force last August 1st. Some 11,000 marriages have taken place since that date, but a small number did not comply fully with the new procedure.
The legislation, which will be published by the Department of Equality and Law Reform within a few days, will provide for the retrospective validation of those marriages. It will also introduce a mechanism for the validation of future marriages in which the same mistake is made.