Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 April 2004
102 Mr. Carey asked the Minister for Health and Children if a person (details supplied) in Dublin 11 who proposes to marry by civil licence on 24 September 2004 will be obliged to pay a fee of €750, due to the fact that he is marrying outside of the district in which he and his fiancée live; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12407/04]
View answerThe new procedures for marriage are set out Part 6 of the Civil Registration Act 2004. The Act introduces universal procedures for notification, solemnisation and registration of marriages. When all civil preliminaries are completed a registrar will issue a marriage registration form to the couple. A marriage cannot proceed unless the couple produce a marriage registration form to a registered solemniser.
The Act makes a number of provisions regarding the solemnisation of marriage and provides that the venue for the marriage may be agreed between the couple and the solemniser. If the solemniser is a registrar, the venue must be approved by the local registration authority and if that venue is not the registrar's office the couple will be required to pay the appropriate fee and additional travel and subsistence expenses incurred by the local registration authority. The fee in question has not yet been established.
The new marriage provisions contained in the Civil Registration Act 2004 amount to a very substantial modernisation and updating of the provisions which currently apply, many of which date back to the 19th century. The General Register Office is committed to ensuring that the new provisions are brought into operation as soon as possible. The preparations for implementation of the provisions relating to marriage have commenced and it is hoped that the necessary measures can be put in place by late 2004 or early 2005. Unfortunately this means that the new provisions will not be in place for a marriage in September 2004. However, the additional information supplied by the Deputy would suggest that the marriage in question is not due to take place until September 2005.
