In my portlet I have code like this in the JSPX:

<ice:panelGrid>
<!-- dateOfBirth -->
<ice:panelGroup styleClass="portlet-form-field-label">
<ice:outputText style="color: red;" value="*"/>
<ice:outputLabel for="dateOfBirth" value="#{JobApplicationMsgs.dateOfBirth}"/>
</ice:panelGroup>
<ice:selectInputDate id="dateOfBirth" alt="#{JobApplicationMsgs.dateOfBirth}" autocomplete="true" popupDateFormat="#{Edit.preferences['dateFormat']}" renderAsPopup="true" required="true" style="" styleClass="portlet-form-input-field" value="#{JobApplication.dateOfBirth}">
<f:convertDateTime pattern="#{Edit.preferences['dateFormat']}"/>
</ice:selectInputDate>
<ice:message errorClass="portlet-msg-error" for="dateOfBirth"/>
</ice:panelGrid>

And when I tab-out of the <ice:selectInputDate/> component, the required validator does not fire.

Thankfully, it does fire when I click the Submit button for the <ice:form/>.