FF Bill to validate marriages

FIANNA FAIL will publish a Private Members Bill this week to exempt marriages which took place between August 1st last and March 31st from the requirement to give three months notification.

The party's spokesman for Equality and Law Reform drew up the Bill to address the plight of up to 50 couples whose marriages have been deemed invalid in civil law.

This was due to administrative failures in the implementation of the new notification provision.

Dr Michael Woods said last night that the couples were faced with the fact that they were not married in the eyes of the State.

Unless this situation was corrected by legislation, he stated, they could not be taxed as married people, could not automatically inherit each other's property, their children would be non marital children, they could not benefit from survivors' pensions and they were excluded from all recent family law legislation.