Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in the Republic of Ireland are regarded as some of the most progressive in Europe and the world. Ireland is notable for its transformation from a country holding conservative attitudes toward LGBTQ issues, in part due to the opposition by the Roman Catholic Church, to one holding overwhelmingly liberal views in the space of a generation. In May 2015, Ireland became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage on a national level by popular vote. The New York Times declared that the result put Ireland at the "vanguard of social change". Since July 2015, transgender people in Ireland can self-declare their gender for the purpose of updating passports, driving licences, obtaining new birth certificates, and getting married. Same-sex sexual activity was decriminalised in 1993, and most forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation are now outlawed. Ireland also forbids incitement to hatred based on sexual orientation. Article 41 of the Constitution of Ireland explicitly protects the right to marriage irrespective of sex.
In 2015, a survey of 1,000 individuals in Ireland found that 78% of people supported same-sex marriage and 71% of people thought that same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt. In the same-sex marriage referendum result of the same year, 62% of voters supported same-sex marriage. A 2013 survey showed that 73% of Irish people agreed that "same-sex marriage should be allowed in the Constitution". Earlier, a 2008 survey showed that 84% of Irish people supported civil marriage or civil partnerships for same-sex couples, with 58% supporting full marriage rights in registry offices. The number who believed same-sex couples should only be allowed to have civil partnerships fell from 33% to 26%. A March 2011 The Sunday Times poll showed support for full civil marriage rights at 73%.
In July 2010, the Oireachtas passed the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010, recognising civil partnerships between same-sex couples. The bill passed all stages in the lower house (Dáil), without the need for a vote, and by a margin of 48 votes to 4 in the Seanad (Senate). The bill was supported by all parties, although individual politicians criticised the legislation. Since the civil partnership legislation has been fully enacted and implemented from the start of 2011, gay and lesbian couples have been able to register their relationship before a registrar. The bill was signed by President Mary McAleese on 19 July 2010. The Minister for Justice signed the commencement order for the act on 23 December 2010, and it came into force on 1 January 2011. Due to the three-month waiting period for all civil ceremonies in Ireland, it had been expected that the first civil partnership ceremonies would take place in April. However, the legislation does provide a mechanism for exemptions to be sought through the courts, and the first partnership, which was between two men, was registered on 7 February 2011. The first publicly celebrated Irish civil partnership under the Act took place in Dublin on 5 April 2011. On 6 April 2015, the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 was signed into law, amending (among other acts) the Adoption Act 2010, and on 19 July 2017 the Adoption (Amendment) Act 2017 was signed into law. These laws amended Irish adoption law to enable same-sex couples to adopt children.
In June 2017, Leo Varadkar, who came out as gay in 2015, was appointed as Ireland's Taoiseach (Head of Government), and thus became the fourth openly gay head of government in the world.
Legality of same-sex sexual activity
Same-sex sexual activity was decriminalised in 1993. This was the result of a campaign by Senator David Norris and the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform which led to a ruling in 1988 that Irish laws prohibiting male homosexual activities were in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform was founded in the 1970s to fight for the decriminalisation of male homosexuality, its founding members including Norris and future Presidents of Ireland Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson. Prior to 1993, certain laws dating from the nineteenth century rendered male homosexual acts illegal. The relevant legislation was the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, and the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, both enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom before Irish independence, and having been repealed in England and Wales in 1967, Scotland in 1980 and Northern Ireland in 1982.
In 1983, David Norris challenged the constitutionality of these laws in a case before High Court but was unsuccessful. On appeal, Supreme Court in Norris v. Attorney General upheld the decision of the High Court in a 3–2 majority. The judgment of Chief Justice Tom O'Higgins referred to the "Christian nature of [the Irish] State" and argued that criminalisation served public health and the institution of marriage.
In 1988, Norris made an application to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that Irish law was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. In Norris v. Ireland, the court ruled that the criminalisation of male homosexuality in Ireland violated Article 8 of the Convention, which guarantees the right to privacy in personal affairs. Male homosexual relations were decriminalised under the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993, when the Minister for Justice, Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, in the 1993–1994 Fianna Fáil—Labour coalition government included decriminalisation with an equal age of consent (an equal age of consent was not required by the ECHR ruling). None of the parties represented in the Oireachtas opposed decriminalisation. The task of signing the bill fell to the President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, an outspoken defender of gay rights who as senior counsel had represented Norris in his Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights challenges.
Apologies On 19 June 2018, as a result of a Labour Party motion proposed by Ged Nash, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, himself gay, issued a public apology to members of the LGBT community for the suffering and discrimination they faced from the Irish state prior to the legalisation of homosexuality in 1993. Speaking to the Oireachtas, he said:
Justice Minister Charles Flanagan also issued an apology to members of the LGBT community who suffered as a result of the criminalisation of homosexuality, saying:
Hate crime laws The Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Act 2024 implemented board-based hate crime laws that explicitly included “sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics”. Ireland has implemented the “toughest and broadest legislation within Europe” in force since 31 December 2024 on hate crimes. It explicitly covers sex, sexual orientation, sex characteristics, race, nationality, religious beliefs and affiliations, disability, ethnicity and gender identity.
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Civil partnerships Prior to the legalisation of same-sex marriage, civil partnership was permitted. A civil partnership bill was presented to the cabinet on 24 June 2009 and was published on 26 June. Although most LGBT advocacy groups cautiously welcomed the legislation, there had been criticisms of the proposal. One major criticism stated that the legislation effectively enshrined discrimination in law insofar as separate contractual arrangements with greater privileges continued to exist for opposite-sex marriages concurrent to lesser arrangements for those wishing to take out civil partnerships. In particular, the denial of the right to apply to adopt to couples with a civil partnership had been cited as particularly discriminatory.
The bill passed all stages in Dáil Éireann on 1 July 2010 with cross-party support resulting in it passing without a vote, and passed by a margin of 48 votes to 4 in the Seanad on 9 July 2010. It granted same-sex couples several rights then only granted to married couples, but did not recognise children raised by same-sex couples as being their children. Irish law only allowed gay people to adopt children as individuals, while allowing same-sex couples to jointly foster. It also granted cohabitants, both gay and straight, who have lived together for at least five years limited rights in an opt-out scheme where a former partner could apply to court on the breakdown of a relationship to make the other former partner provide financial support to him/her. The bill was signed into law by President Mary McAleese on 19 July, enacted as the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010.
The ability to enter into a civil partnership ended on 16 November 2015.
Marriage Same-sex marriage is legal in Ireland, following approval on 22 May 2015 of a constitutional referendum which amended the Constitution of Ireland to provide that marriage is recognised irrespective of the sex of the partners. The measure was signed into law by President Michael D. Higgins as the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland on 29 August 2015. The Marriage Act 2015, passed by the Oireachtas on 22 October 2015 and signed into law by the Presidential Commission on 29 October 2015, gave legislative effect to the amendment.
Same-sex marriage became legally recognised in Ireland on 16 November 2015 and the first marriage ceremonies of same-sex couples occurred on 17 November 2015.
Background to legalisation of same-sex marriage The Irish courts first dealt with the case of same-sex marriage in the case of Foy v. An t-Ard Chláraitheoir. In that case, Dr Lydia Foy, a transgender woman, sought a finding that she was born female but suffered from a congenital disability and claimed that the existing legal regime infringed her constitutional rights to marry a man. In support of her claim, she relied on case law from the ECHR. Judge McKechnie noted that in Ireland it was crucial that parties to a marriage be of the opposite biological sex. The judge noted that Article 12 of the ECHR is equally predicated. Accordingly, he found that there was no sustainable basis for the applicant's submission that the law which prohibited her from marrying a party of the same biological sex as herself was a violation of her constitutional right to marry. The judge concluded that the right to marry is not absolute and has to be evaluated in the context of several other rights including the rights of society. Therefore, the state is entitled to hold the view which is espoused and evident from its laws.