Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018
2503. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to include surviving partners under the widowed and surviving civil partner grant who were not legally married but cohabitating and who have dependent children; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33461/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Widowed or Surviving Civil Partner Grant is a once-off payment to widows, widowers or surviving civil partners with dependent children.
This grant is available to widows, widowers or surviving civil partners who have one or more dependent children living with them at the time of death; or a widow or surviving civil partner whose child is born within 10 months of the date of death of her spouse or civil partner.
In order to qualify for the grant, a person must satisfy certain social insurance conditions and be a widow, widower or (since 1 January 2011) a surviving civil partner, and not be in a cohabiting relationship. The contributions must have been paid on one of the spouse/civil partners’ social insurance records and all must have been made before the death of the spouse/civil partner.
The legal context governing relationships such as marriage is broader than the social protection system. Where that context changes, the social welfare code is examined for appropriate changes, e.g., the scheme was introduced for widows on 1st January 1936; it was extended to widowers on 28th October 1994 in light of gender equality issues that had not been considered in the 1930s; and extended to surviving civil partners from 1st January 2011 following the introduction of civil partnership.
Entering into a marriage or civil partnership is a legal act, which confers both rights and obligations on both parties, which do not exist in a legal sense between co-habiting couples. Widows, widowers and surviving civil partners, who become bereaved, therefore, in addition to their personal loss, also lose someone who had legal duties towards them. In some cases those legal duties were, in part, financial in nature, and the social welfare code recognises that potential loss by providing a pension to them, subject to certain conditions.
The supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependants. Under the SWA scheme, the Department of Social Protection may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off and unforeseen expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet from their weekly income, which may include help with funeral and burial expenses. The Government has provided €31.5 million for exceptional and urgent needs payments in 2017.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
