Dating agencies and matchmakers in Ireland: your rights

A dating agency, or introduction agency, is a business that introduces you, for a fee, to people from its own list of clients. A matchmaker does the same with more personal searching, and usually charges more. In Ireland, as in the UK, you'll meet both: a consultation first, then a membership for a set period. What protects you is general consumer law, chiefly the Consumer Rights Act 2022, which covers services sold to consumers from 29 November 2022.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Prices aren't covered here; our guide to what dating agencies cost explains how to compare fees, wherever you live.

Your rights at a glance

The 14-day right to cancel

If you buy a service at a distance (online, by phone or by email) or away from the trader's business premises, the Consumer Rights Act gives you a cancellation period: time to change your mind without giving a reason. For service contracts it lasts 14 days from the day the contract is concluded. If the contract followed an unsolicited visit to your home, or an excursion the trader organised, it is 30 days.

Some agencies run the first consultation by video and send the contract by email. That usually makes it a distance contract, with the 14-day right. Write down the date you agreed to the contract; the 14 days start then, not when introductions begin.

To cancel, tell the agency clearly, in writing. Email is fine; keep a copy. You don't need to give a reason.

If you asked them to start straight away

Agencies often want to begin searching at once, and may ask you to agree to that. The law allows it, with a catch:

• If you made an express request, on a durable medium such as an email, for the service to start during the cancellation period, and then cancel, you pay a proportionate amount for what was actually supplied up to the day you told the agency you were cancelling.
• That amount is based on the total contract price, or on the market value of what you received if the price is excessive.
• You pay nothing for that period if the agency failed to tell you about your right to cancel or that you'd have to pay for an early start, or if you never made an express request in a lasting form.

So a "non-refundable registration fee" taken in the first fortnight is not automatically the agency's to keep. Ask what work it has actually done.

If nobody told you about cancelling

Before you are bound, the trader must tell you about your right to cancel. If it doesn't, the cancellation period is extended: it ends 12 months after it would otherwise have ended. If the agency gives you the information late, but within that 12 months, you get 14 days from the day you receive it, or 30 days in the home-visit case.

Signing at the agency's office

If you go to the agency's own premises and sign there, the 14-day right generally doesn't apply. Then the contract's own terms on cancellation, refunds and renewal are what you have, alongside the service standards below. That is the main reason to take the contract home and read it before you sign.

What the service must live up to

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is Ireland's consumer regulator. Its guidance for businesses sets out what any service provider owes you under the 2022 Act:

• Reasonable care and skill, and any higher standard the business claims.
• What you were told: the service must match what was advertised or said to you, in writing or out loud, and the terms you agreed.
• Putting it right: if the service falls short, the provider must fix it at no cost to you, within a reasonable time.
• Price reduction or refund: if it can't or won't be put right, or the problem is serious, you can seek a price reduction, and refunds are due within 14 days.

For an agency, what you were told matters most. If you were promised a set number of introductions, people within a certain age range or area, or a named matchmaker, get it in writing. Our questions to ask a dating agency list what to pin down, and how dating agencies vet members explains what each kind of check proves.

Questions to settle before you pay

Irish law gives you no licence number to check, so the agency's answers to a few plain questions carry more weight:

1. Who exactly am I contracting with? The company name and address should be on the contract.
2. How many introductions, over what period, and what counts as one? A profile sent to you is not the same as a date that happens.
3. Who will I be introduced to? Age range, area and how the agency checks its members.
4. Is this a distance contract? If you're agreeing by email or after a video call, ask the agency to confirm your 14-day right in writing.
5. What happens if I pause, move or want to stop? Get the answer before you need it.

Making a complaint

1. Write to the agency first, setting out what went wrong, what you were promised and what you want: the introductions, a price reduction or a refund.
2. Keep evidence: the contract, emails, brochures and dated notes of calls.
3. If that fails, the CCPC's consumer guidance explains your options, and a solicitor can advise on your own contract.

Romance fraud

An Garda Síochána warns that romance fraudsters often use someone else's photos, move you quickly from a dating site to a messaging app, avoid video calls and ask for money that starts small and grows. Its advice: keep conversations on the dating site's own messaging, never send money or bank details to someone you've met online, and don't install apps they ask you to. If you think you've been targeted, keep the messages, contact your bank straight away and speak to gardaí at any Garda station; they say every report is treated in confidence.

Our guide to how romance scams work explains the patterns, and warning signs when choosing a dating agency covers agencies themselves. For other countries, see dating agency rules by country.