Galway couple celebrate county’s first same sex marriage

History was made in Galway this week when the county’s first same sex marriage took place in the romantic surrounds of a fifteenth century Norman Castle.

Freda and Carol Flanagan tied the knot at Cloonacauneen Castle on the outskirts of Galway on Monday – the first couple to marry since the introduction of legislation on November 16 that followed the ‘yes’ vote in the Equality Referendum on May 22.

And it was fitting that Cloonacauneen Castle should play host to this landmark event as they were also first to host Civil Partnership and Same Sex Civil Partnership ceremonies in Galway.

Their wedding was the icing on the cake for Freda and Carol Flanagan – a year they simply described as “amazing!”

Carol remembers the events unfolding on that very meaningful day in May. She and Freda sat in their home, watching, emotionally enthralled, as it was announced; the people of Ireland had voted Yes to equality.

“I cried from morning to night – I was so happy,” she said.

Freda and Carol met in 2005 and have experienced first-hand the huge shift in public attitudes and opinion over the past ten years.

Freda is originally from Woodquay; her wife Carol was born and raised in London but has family ties to the Woodquay area also.

Freda cites the “anti-social behaviour” in the area lately as one of their main reasons for leaving. The couple now live in Carraroe with their five dogs and kennels.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.