Vol. 491 No. 1
91 Mr. Barrett asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will take the necessary steps to provide widows of deceased pensioners who qualified for pro-rata contributory old age pension with a pro-rata contributory widow's pension. [11450/98]
Where a person was in receipt of a full rate or pro-rata old age (contributory) pension, which incorporated a full payment in respect of a qualified adult, that qualified adult automatically qualifies for a full widow's-widower's contributory pension in the event of the death of the pensioner.
In other cases where the spouse of the widow or widower was not a qualified adult for social welfare pensions purposes or the payment in respect of the qualified adult was at less than the full adult rate, there is then no automatic entitlement and qualification for a widow's-widower's contributory pension would be subject to the general qualifying criteria. These conditions are considered to be relatively generous by comparison with other conditions in the social welfare code reflecting the nature of the payment.
Any change to the existing arrangements could only be considered in a budgetary context.
If the Deputy has a particular case in mind, I will have it investigated if he sends me the details.
