Living together with someone is also sometimes called ‘cohabiting’.
A cohabiting couple is a couple that lives together in an intimate and committed relationship, who are not married to each other and not in a civil partnership. Cohabiting couples can be opposite-sex or same-sex. A cohabiting relationship can continue to be ‘intimate’ even if it is not sexual.
If you live together, you may sometimes be described as common-law husband and wife. There is no such thing as a common law husband and wife in Irish legislation. However, couples living together now have certain rights if the relationship ends (through death or separation), though this depends on how long you have lived together and if you have children together (see Redress scheme for cohabiting couples)