Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)

The position of widows has been a long-standing bone of contention for me. When they lose their spouse, especially if they have two or three young children, it is a time of huge vulnerability. Having lost their main breadwinner and find their income slashed by maybe 60% or 70%, they need compassion and positive help. The social welfare system has been remiss in abjectly failing to recognise the plight of widows.

The Minister will correctly say the widowed parent's grant has gone up from €1,300 to €4,000 for 2007, which is over 300%, and it would be churlish not to acknowledge it. The household benefits package should focus above all on this area, even if it is for a limited period of, for example, three to four years, to help bereaved people until they can regain independence. They may have depended on a spouse to carry out various chores or as the main breadwinner. In that period of readjustment to a new situation they should be assisted. The general public would be supportive of any measures to assist widows in a period of great trauma, distress and loneliness as a result of losing their loved one.

The household benefits package could be usefully explored in the context of trying to provide maximum help. Bereavement is a time of great vulnerability and I have constantly agitated in this regard for the past nine or ten years and more. I have a particular interest and call on the Minister to commission a report to consider the costs associated with improving the household benefits package available to widows, even for a limited period while they readjust. It would be appropriate to do so at this moment, when we have significant resources and can afford to help people. The welfare system should be about helping people when they are most vulnerable.

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