Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is interesting that the figures involved are very small. For widow's, widower's or surviving civil partner's contributory pension, the headline figure is 124,896 recipients. However, it is important to look at the age breakdown. Everybody over the age of 66 has a right to some kind of pension, either a contributory pension or, if they do not have that, a non-contributory pension. The numbers for the latter group are very small. There are only 19,000 widows with a non-contributory pension.

The interesting point is the breakdown across age groups. For the under-35s, the numbers are 87 females and 15 males. In the next age group up, those figures are 423 and 122, respectively. I am sorry for giving the long-winded version but it is the only way I can show what I mean. There are 916 recipients aged between 40 and 44. The age cohorts continue in five-year jumps. When we get to those aged 60, the numbers are 8,000 females and 2,900 males, which is a total of nearly 11,000. It is only beyond that age that the numbers really begin to jump, as we would expect. When we get to age 75, the figures are 18,000 females and 2,600 males. I have not had a chance to disaggregate the figures fully. The point I am making is that if the numbers are so small for widows and widowers in the conventional sense, then the Cathaoirleach's surmise is totally correct that the number of cohabiting couples will be equally small in those age groups. As I said, we can really discount the pension-age group because those people have entitlements in any case.