Civil Partners will be able to convert their Irish civil partnership into a marriage by giving just five days notice, instead of three months.

The Marriage Bill (2015) is due to complete all stages in the Dáil this morning at 10:45am (Wednesday, October 6), and an ammendment brought by Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald will see the original wait of three months for civil partners to have their partnerships recognised as marriage be reduced to just under a week.

“Today we move another crucial step closer to the day that lesbian and gay couples can say ‘I do’ to each other,”

“This is a major improvement that will be widely welcomed by civil partners anxiously waiting to marry, and finally be treated equally,” says Kieran Rose, Co-Chair of GLEN.

Other issues addressed in the final Bill include the legal right to accept your partner as ‘husband, wife or spouse’, and a lower fee for civil partners to marry.

“The Bill gives effect to the new and equal Constitutional status for lesbian and gay people, implementing the will of the people who voted for equality in such resounding numbers in last May’s marriage referendum,” Brian Sheehan, Director of GLEN and co-Director of the Yes Equality Campaign.

When the Marriage Bill (2015) is completed in the Dáil today it will move to the Seanad for its final stages before being signed into law by President Michael D. Higgins.