From today, registrars will able to block a marriage if they suspect it’s a sham.
The new legislation was introduced to stop people from getting married in Ireland in order to get residency here.
Five years ago, a Pakistani man, who was living in Ballymun at the time, was stopped from marrying an 18-year-old Latvian woman.
Their wedding was cancelled after immigration officials raised concerns they were getting married as part of a scam, whereby women from eastern European countries were paid to marry non-EU men in order to secure residency for them.
But from today, registrars will be allowed to block so-called ‘marriages of convenience’ and alert the relevant authorities.
Welcoming the new powers, the Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said the abuse of the institution of marriage “cannot and will not be tolerated”.
