asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he is aware that when payment of pensions to Garda widows was recently increased by ten shillings per week an equivalent sum was deducted from any social welfare benefit paid to these widows; and whether, in view of the fact that the increase was intended to improve the financial position of these widows and to compensate them for the recent increases in the cost of living, he will put an immediate stop to the practice of reducing their social welfare payments in this way.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Deductions from Social Welfare Benefits.
9.
The increases in Garda widows' pensions under the Pensions Increases Act, 1964, are assessable as income in the calculation of means under the Social Welfare Acts.
Is the Minister aware that at least one case exists, of which I have sent in particulars, in which a Garda widow, as a result of receiving the increase in the Garda pension, is now £39 per annum worse off than before she got the increase in the pension? Is that reasonable?
I will pass that information on to the minister who, I am sure, will be in communication with the Deputy about it.
May I take it that it would be contrary to the policy with which both sides of this House are in agreement that an increase given by this House to widows of members of the Garda should result in the income of the widow being substantially reduced?
It should not be.
I assure you I have a case in which the reduction in the widow's pension following on the increase given in the Garda pension actually resulted in a reduction in her annual income of £39. Surely that is not the intention of the House.