380. Deputy John Lyons asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if measures are being prepared by her Department to allow couples convert pre-existing civil partnerships to civil marriages, in the event of next year's referendum on marriage equality being passed. [48307/14]

381. Deputy John Lyons asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if legislation to bring in civil marriage for same-sex couples due to be published in advance of the referendum on marriage equality will include measures to convert pre-existing civil partnerships to civil marriages. [48308/14]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 380 and 381 together.

An implementation Bill will be required in order to make civil marriage available to same-sex couples in the event that the referendum is passed by the people next year. Given the requirement that the parties to a marriage give their full, free and informed consent to entering the marriage, it will not be possible to convert existing civil partnerships into marriages automatically. However, since many couples in civil partnerships may prefer to be married, the legislation will include provisions to ensure that couples in civil partnerships will be free to marry each other.