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Written question asked by Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party) on Wednesday, 19 October 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 21 October 2005. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon (Labour) on Thursday, 3 November 2005 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.

Marriages

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many marriage licences were issued by (a) Antrim borough council and (b) Ards borough council in each of the last five years.
Answer

Prior to 1 January 2004, all civil marriages were carried out either by Registrar's Certificate or Registrar's Licence but separate statistics are not available for each form of authority. The following tables give the total number of civil marriages in Antrim and Ards local government districts between 2000 and 2003.New marriage legislation introduced from 1 January 2004 provided for universal civil preliminaries with a schedule issued by the registrar constituting the authority for all marriages, religious or civil, to take place. In 2004, 185 marriages were carried out by schedule in Antrim local government district and 231 marriages were carried out by schedule in Ards local government district. Of these 57 marriages in Antrim local government district and 78 marriages in Ards local government district were civil marriages.A further three civil marriages in Antrim local government district and four civil marriages in Ards local government district took place in 2004, under the previous legislation.

Table 1: The total number of civil marriages inAntrim council office, 2000–03
Civil marriages celebrated in Antrim council office
2000 59
2001 60
2002 67
2003 46
Table 2: The total number of civil marriages in Ardscouncil office, 2000–03
Civil marriages celebrated in Ards council office
2000 86
2001 80
2002 82
2003 75

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
21243; 438 c1374-5W;438 c1373-4W
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Marriage Antrim Ards