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First gay marriage sealed in Ireland

Ireland has carried out its historic first gay marriage after new equality laws were signed into law, following a referendum in May.

The unlikely setting of a health centre waiting room was the backdrop for Ireland's historic first gay marriage.

Same sex couples around the country rushed to exchange vows days after new equality laws were signed into being following last May's sea-change referendum.

Under the new legislation, couples already in a civil partnership can apply to be married within five days.

Barrister Cormac Gollogly, 35, from Terenure in Dublin, and banker Richard Dowling, 35, from Athlone, travelled to south Tipperary to be the first to tie the knot early on Tuesday morning.

The pair was already in a civil partnership, which they described as "really our wedding day", celebrated with friends and family at Kilshane House on September 18.

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They had to return to Tipperary to exchange new vows and seal their full marriage at Clonmel Community Care Centre.

"This is formalising the legalities of our marriage," said Dowling. "We wanted to try and get in the history books and be first across the line."

Before two witnesses and senior registrar Mary Claire Heffernan, the couple signed the register on a hospital trolley in the waiting area of the centre at around 8.30am (1930 AEDT).

The pair has been together since meeting 12 years ago in one of Dublin's main gay nightspots The George.

They got engaged after Dowling proposed on a beach in Sitges, Spain, two years ago.

Having already honeymooned in The Maldives after their civil partnership ceremony, the newlyweds celebrated with lunch in Dublin with friends and family.

Other same sex couples in Cork and Donegal also tied the knot during the day.

Dolores Murphy and Mabel Stoop-Murphy, who were married at Adelaide Street register office in Cork, said full equality would mean Murphy is legally recognised for the first time as the mother of their two-year-old son James.

Under the Marriage Act 2015, enacted last week during a ceremony at Dublin Castle, same sex couples who were already married abroad automatically had their unions recognised in Ireland from midnight last Sunday.

Those who had applied for a civil partnership since the May referendum are being given the option of getting married instead.

Others will have to give the usual three months notice of intention to marry.


3 min read

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Updated

Source: AAP



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