Effective ban on marriages of Irish to non-EU citizens lifted

An effective ban on new marriages between Irish and non-EU citizens has been lifted following a temporary stoppage to compulsory sham marriage screenings.

The Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill, which was enacted in August, introduced the requirement for participants in such marriages to go through an interview which aimed to identify possible sham unions.

The interviews were meant to be carried out by civil registrars employed by the Health Service Executive (HSE).

However, none were carried out over the last week because union representatives for the registrars said members were unhappy that they had not been provided with adequate training for this specific duty.

Uncertain situation

As a result, Irish and non-EU citizens looking to marry were left in an uncertain situation as their application could not progress beyond the mandatory interview stage prior to matrimony.

The issue was raised with Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton last week, and a temporary solution has been found whereby a small number of superintendent registrars will conduct interviews for their geographical regions.

The issue of sham marriages rose to prominence once again last week after gardaí arrested 11 people and seized €30,000 in cash in connection with the practice.

The work stoppage among junior registrars is ongoing and any backlogs caused by the industrial relations dispute are expected to be worked through prior to Christmas.

Independent TD for Roscommon Denis Naughten welcomed the resolution and said a number of his constituents had complained of distress caused by the hiatus.

Constitutional right

“The failure to facilitate these interviews was effectively banning Irish people from availing of their constitutional right to get married,” he said.

“In the last four weeks, with same-sex couples given the right to marry for the first time, it was completely unacceptable that both same-sex and opposite-sex couples wishing to marry, where one partner is from outside the EU, were having their constitutional right denied to them,” he added.