(Dublin) The Irish government moved a step closer Tuesday to legalizing civil partnerships for same-sex couples, unveiling details of the proposed legislation.

The bill to be presented to Parliament later this year will allow same-sex couples over the age of 18 to enter into civil partnerships. New rights for unmarried opposite-sex couples were also announced. 

Gay and lesbian couples intending to have civil partnerships will have to give 90-days notice of their wish to register.

The legislation covers areas such as pensions and property rights for partners and it provides for ending relationships which fail.

Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said that despite a strong lobbying effort by gays for full marriage, the Irish Constitution prevents redefining marriage.

A clause in the constitution says the government must protect the institution of marriage.

Eamon Ryan of the Green Party said Greens would support the bill but had hoped that the legislation had gone further.

Last year two government committees recommended civil partnerships but without many of the rights of marriage, including the right of couples to adopt children.

Recent public opinion polls show that 84 percent are in favor of some recognition of same-sex couples while 53 percent would allow gay couples to marry.

Ahern said he hoped the bill would be passed and put into effect by spring 2009.

The legislation would be similar to the civil partnership law already in effect in the UK. 

The number of gays having civil partnerships in England and Wales has leveled off. In 2006, the first full year in which civil partnerships could be formed, 16,106 couples were joined together.  Last year though, it dropped by about 46 percent to 8,728.

LGBT rights groups said the 2007 figures likely represent the norm because so many longtime couples had entered civil unions when they first became available.