Same-sex marriage in the Republic of Ireland in Northern Ireland held the first of the new UK civil partnership registration ceremonies. The Government said that it would legislate following the report, but Taoiseach Bertie Ahern also said there might not be time to do so before the then upcoming election. Chaired by former TD Anne Colley, this working group included GLEN, the gay rights lobby organisation, who said they expected a recommendation for civil marriage. The group facilitated a conference on the topic in May 2006, as input to its reports which was attended by experts from other countries which have introduced civil unions and same-sex marriage.
LGBT rights in the Republic of Ireland On 6 April 2015, the "Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015" was signed into law, amending (among other acts) the "Adoption Act 2010", to enable same-sex couples to jointly adopt children and stepchildren. In June 2017, Leo Varadkar was appointed as Ireland's Taoiseach (Head of Government), and thus became the fourth openly gay head of state/government in the world. 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