There have been an average of two civil partnership ceremonies have per day since their introduction last year, with a total of 862 ceremonies registered between April 2011 and September 2012.

In that time period, 1,724 lesbian and gay people from 61 countries entered into civil partnerships, , the Irish Times reports. The majority, or 1,334 people, were Irish.

Over 50pc of couples who have obtained civil partnerships live in Dublin city or county, with 457 of the couples resident there.

Dublin 8 holds the highest share of civil partnerships with 60 such couples resident in that area. Of those couples who entered into civil partnerships, 528 couples were male and 334 female.

More than 1,000 of the individuals who took part in civil partnerships were aged between 31 and 50. Fourteen were aged over 70 and 11 were between 18 and 20 years of age.

Civil partners have the same rights and obligations as opposite- sex married couples in an extensive range of areas including tax, inheritance, next of kin, social welfare, immigration and pensions, and have the same employment protection as married couples.