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.
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 position and going through the whole process." RTÉ reached a consensus and agreed to change the selection process and revert to the "National Song Contest" format that was used in Ireland before 2001, resulting in seven Irish winners. Eurosong 2008 was the name of the Irish national final that replaced 2007's selection process for 2008. An open call for songs by RTÉ was conducted, with the deadline for submissions set at 23 January 2008. A judging panel, including Irish Eurovision winner Linda Martin, reduced the shortlist of entries from the 150 songs submitted to RTÉ to just six entries. Of