Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 May 2023
509. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of deserted wives' benefit payments that have been discontinued for whatever reason in the course of the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25007/23]
View answerThe Deserted Wife's Benefit scheme, introduced in 1973, was closed to new applications with effect from 2 January 1997, when One Parent Family Payment was introduced. Deserted Wife's Benefit was payable to a woman deserted by her husband, based on the social insurance contributions paid by the wife or her husband. Currently, the scheme has 4,554 recipients.
As a closed scheme, remaining Deserted Wife’s Benefit claims are stopped for a variety of reasons including: when the woman remarries, commences cohabitation, passes away, or transfers to another social protection payment.
The table below provides the number of claims stopped, per year, for the past 5 years and to date in 2023:
|
Year |
No. claims stopped |
|
2023 (to date) |
92 |
|
2022 |
283 |
|
2021 |
381 |
|
2020 |
347 |
|
2019 |
422 |
|
2018 |
263 |
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
