Progress for Irish Humanists in Marriage Reform Proposals<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

An Inter-Departmental Committee ( IDC) for Marriage Reform in the Irish Republic has issued a set of proposals which, if successfully implemented in legislation, will place Irish Humanist celebrants on an equal footing with clergy of all denominations.

 

The IDC was established because of a perception of inefficiency and inequality in the existing system. Churches were the only places recognized or licensed (outside of a handful of registry offices) to carry out legal weddings. The onus was then on the clergy to return the details for legal purposes to the state registrar and it was becoming clear that many failed to carry out their duties. On occasions this even led to bigamous marriages.

 

The state risked legal action for not properly supervising the system in the same way as they have been found liable for not supervising other institutions subcontracted out to the churches, such as orphanages. Also, only the major churches were recognized by law and followers of smaller ones had to apply for special licences and seek the use of premises from an approved church. With the influx and growth of new minorities including Muslims and Humanists the situation was becoming unmanageable.

 

The IDC proposed to deal with the problems in two stages. Phase one would improve record keeping, to be followed later by an effort to bring about more equitable treatment of minorities. They issued a suggested framework which proposed downgrading the record keeping and legal role of the clergy. All couples would register three months in advance and be issued with a licence which would need to be authorized by their marriage ‘solemnizer’, confirming that the ceremony had taken place; the couple would themselves then be responsible for returning the authorized licence to the registrar before a marriage certificate was issued. The Association of Irish Humanists (www.Irish-Humanists.org) welcomed this shift of responsibility from church to state and suggested that it cleared the way for a simple solution to the problem of equity of treatment: with decentralized record keeping no longer necessary it should now be possible to license the solemnizer rather than the premises. We could therefore see no reason why the various minorities should not nominate marriage solemnizers who could then be licensed by the state.

 

Within a matter of weeks the IDC issued proposals putting forward just such a solution and they were widely welcomed. The reform is now proceeding to the drafting of legislation. In seeking phrasing to cover minorities including Humanists (it is apparently inappropriate to mention specific organizations like the Humanists in a bill) we found ourselves grateful for the inclusion of ‘ethical’ in the IHEU title. The problem was to define categories of bodies which could apply to have solemnizers registered with the state in such a way as to avoid commercial opportunists or groups which might undermine the solemnity and status of marriage. The wording is not final yet but the stated ‘ethical’ dimension of organized Humanism seems to have won favour with those drafting the bill, with the likely wording for bodies nominating solemnizers being ‘not-for-profit religious and secular ethical associations’.

 

We in the Association of Irish Humanists are delighted with the proposed reforms which, if implemented, will take our republic from an unfairly restrictive position to the forefront of European states in this legislative area.

 

Dick Spicer

Ceremonial Director, Association of Irish Humanists