By Mairead Carey

Tens of thousands of gay couples in Ireland are to be given legal recognition for the first time under new legislation being proposed by Justice Minister Michael McDowell.

The move follows a radical change in the law in Northern Ireland. As of this week, gay couples there are entitled to have their relationships recognized in law, which would give them rights similar to marriage.

The Irish government is likely to introduce the new civil partnership law next year.

The legislation will not provide for gay marriages as that would create too many legal and constitutional difficulties, but it will provide for greater equality between married and cohabiting couples in areas such as tax, inheritance and social welfare.

Grainne Close and Shannon Sickels will become the first gay couple to have a civil union ceremony in both Ireland and Britain, when they register their union in Belfast on Monday, December 12.

The couple already engaged in a similar ceremony in New York in October.

Three gay and lesbian couples based in Northern Ireland have already signed up for the ceremony. Their unions will be recognized before the end of the month.

Gay couples south of the border will have a longer wait. The All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution will publish a report on the issue next month.

It is likely to advocate civil partnerships but stop short of recommending changes to the constitution.

“Attempting to mimic marriage is not the way forward,” says McDowell. “A measure which effectively provides for all the attributes of marriage for people who are not married would fall foul of the constitution. That is the advice of the attorney general. What we can do is address the real unfairness that people experience,” he said.