THE Minister for Health has announced that the days of "quickie" marriages are over.
No longer will couples be able to conduct a whirlwind romance, marrying after they have known each other for a few weeks. From May 1st it will be necessary to register an intention to marry with the local registrar of marriages at least three months before the intended marriage, so that marriages conducted on or after August 1st can be legally solemnised.
The regulation is part of the Family Law Act passed last year, which also raised the minimum age for marriage from 16 to 18.
Mr Noonan quoted the maxim, "Marry in haste, repent at leisure" at the press conference to announce the change in marriage law yesterday. He said that international research had identified early marriage as one of the factors in marriage breakdown. This happened when people married before they were mature enough to undertake such a serious commitment.
"There is a lot of parental and peer pressure to marry, especially where the girl is pregnant," he said. "Marriage is one of the most serious decisions a young person is likely to make."
From August 1st marriages can only be legally solemnised if the parties have a receipt from the local registrar stating they registered their intention to marry three months previously. This means that couples intending to marry in August or later must start registering now.
A very simple form has been made available, which has to be filled in and signed by both parties intending to marry, with their names, addresses, dates of birth and the date and place of the intended marriage. It is available from registrars.
If a couple miss the deadline they can get an exemption from the Circuit or High Court in an informal procedure not requiring legal representation. They will just need to write to the clerk and arrange an informal hearing. Both parties must make the application for the exemption.
Under the new regulations court exemptions will also have to be sought by those under 18 seeking to marry.
Mr Noonan said that he expected the courts to take quite a lenient view of those seeking exemptions initially, until the new regulations were universally understood, but by next year they would take a more rigorous view.
Asked what would happen to those who went ahead and married in a church without having registered their intention three months in advance, Mr Noonan said they would not be legally married, and would have to have a civil marriage later when all the regulations had been complied with. There was nothing to stop them having such a ceremony, he added, holding a reception and even going on honeymoon.
Advertisements will be taken in national and local media to alert people to the new regulations, and all the major churches had already been informed, he said.
Over the next few weeks hotels would also be contacted, as those intending to marry usually arranged a reception in a hotel. Managers would be asked to remind them, when making a booking for a wedding, of the new regulations.