Civil Registration Act 2004

• Permanent Page URL

Registration of marriages.

49.—(1) Immediately after the solemnisation of a marriage, the marriage registration form relating to the marriage shall be signed by—

(a) each of the parties to the marriage,

(b) two witnesses to the solemnisation of the marriage, and

(c) the person who solemnised the marriage.

(2) Either of the parties to a marriage shall give to a registrar, within one month from the date of the marriage, the marriage registration form duly completed in accordance with subsection (1).

(3) A registrar shall, as soon as practicable after he or she receives a marriage registration form under subsection (2), enter the particulars in relation to the marriage concerned specified in the form in the register and register the marriage in such manner as an tArd-Chláraitheoir may direct.

(4) Subject to subsection (5), a registrar shall not register a marriage if he or she has not received the relevant marriage registration form.

(5) Where an tArd-Chláraitheoir is satisfied that the marriage registration form relating to a duly solemnised marriage has been lost, destroyed or damaged, he or she may direct the appropriate registrar—

(a) to complete another marriage registration form and arrange, insofar as it is practicable to do so, for its signature by the persons referred to in subsection (1), and

(b) when it has been so signed, to enter the particulars in relation to the marriage specified in the form in the register and to register the marriage in such manner as he or she may direct.

(6) The Minister may provide by regulations for the correction of errors in entries in the register and for the causing of corrected entries to be entered in the register and for the retention of the original entries in the register.

(7) Where an tArd-Chláraitheoir is satisfied that an entry in the register relates to a marriage—

(a)     (i)  that was not exempted under section 33 of the Family Law Act 1995 from the application of section 32(1)(a) of that Act, and

   (ii) in relation to which the said section 32(1)(a) was contravened,

(b)     (i)  that was not exempted under section 47 from the application of section 46 (1)(a)(i), and

   (ii) in relation to which section 46 (1)(a)(i) was contravened,

or

(c) in relation to which section 46 (1)(b) was not complied with,

he or she—

(d) shall direct a registrar to cancel the entry and the direction shall be complied with, and

(e) shall notify the parties concerned of the direction.

(8) Where, in relation to a marriage solemnised in accordance with the rites and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church after the commencement of this section, a certificate under section 11 of the Registration of Marriages (Ireland) Act 1863 was procured by a party to the marriage before such commencement, the certificate shall be deemed, for the purposes of this section, to be a marriage registration form duly completed in accordance with subsection (1) and that section shall be deemed, for those purposes, to have been complied with.

(9) Where, in relation to a marriage to which section 11 of the Registration of Marriages (Ireland) Act 1863 applies and which was solemnised before the commencement of this section—

(a) the said section 11 was not complied with, and

(b) a certificate referred to in that section is given to a registrar by one of the parties to the marriage after such commencement,

the said section 11 shall be deemed to have been complied with in relation to the marriage and the registrar may register the marriage in the register in such manner as an tArd-Chláraitheoir may direct.

(10) Where, in relation to a marriage to which section 22 of the Matrimonial Causes and Marriage Law (Ireland) Amendment Act 1871 applies and which was solemnised before the commencement of this section—

(a) the said section 22 was not complied with, and

(b) a certificate referred to in that section is given to a registrar by one of the parties to the marriage after such commencement,

the said section 22 shall be deemed to have been complied with in relation to the marriage and the registrar may register the marriage in the register in such manner as an tArd-Chláraitheoir may direct.