Fears of ‘chaos’ after vote on equal marriage

A senior civil servant predicted chaos in the system if Church leaders followed through on a threat to stop registering marriages after the marriage equality referendum passed.

Registrar General Kieran Feely, who is in charge of managing the State’s marriage registration system, warned officials in the Department of Social Protection that there needed to be a contingency plan based on a “worst-case scenario” after marriage was opened to gay couples.

For a wedding to be legally recognised it must be solemnised by a person approved to do so by the Registrar General. Currently around 4,452 of the 5,855 approved solemnisers are Catholic priests and 107 are civil registrars. According to the Central Statistics Office, 13,072, or 59%, of the 22,045 marriages registered in 2014 were Roman Catholic marriage ceremonies.