It was December 23, 2010, and Dermot Aherne, then Minister for Justice and Equality signed the commencement notices for the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 at a ceremony with GLEN. The ceremony was meant to be held in the Department’s offices on Stephen’s Green but we had big snow in Dublin, and as the Minister was coming from Dundalk, we relocated the ceremony to a hotel by Croke Park. The notices brought the Act into force on January 1, 2011 and given the need to give three months’ notice, the first Civil Partnerships could be entered into in April 2011.
It was a relaxed and jovial occasion. There was great relief that finally and soon, lesbian and gay couples would have legal recognition of their relationships with equal rights in crucial areas such as social welfare, immigration, taxation, health and so on.
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