Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the amendment tabled by the Minister. Couples who have entered into civil partnerships have already paid a civil partnership fee to the celebrant or State, which was the equivalent of the fee paid when celebrating a marriage in a marriage registry office.

I note the Government has made a decision that a reduced fee will be payable for those couples who are civil partners and who now want to celebrate a marriage. I suggest to the Minister that there should be no fee payable. No heterosexual couple which has celebrated a marriage in a registry office, for example, and paid the fee would have to pay the fee a second time. It is not the fault of couples party to civil partnership that they are placed in a position now where if they wish to be formally recognised as married, they must effectively be party to a second ceremony. I know people welcome the fact that they can get married and the relationship they have will be recognised as a marital relationship but in the unusual circumstances that arise, there is no justification for those who entered into civil partnerships having to pay a second fee to the State for the privilege of having to marry.

I welcome the decision for a reduced fee but I urge that there be no fee. I can see no reason for a fee and the reduced fee, as I understand it, is a relatively small amount. I believe it is €50 but I am sure the Minister can clarify that. In the context of the funds that the Exchequer may need, the fee is generally an irrelevance. It would be a good and appropriate gesture in recognising the enormous and beneficial change that we are bringing about if the fee in its entirety was waived.

See this speech in context