Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Of course, the death of a child is a tragedy and the difficulties that parents and families experience as a result cannot be overstated. Within the social welfare system, there are a number of supports for people who suffer a bereavement. In particular, there is an arrangement known as the six weeks' payment after death, which allows for certain payments to continue to be made after a person dies. If a person is in receipt of a primary social welfare payment that includes an increase for a qualified child and, tragically, that child dies, the qualified child payment will continue for six weeks after the child's death. In cases where an individual has been in receipt of a one-parent family payment and an increase for a qualified child, both payments will continue for six weeks after the death of that child.

In the case of carer's allowance, payment continues to be made for 12 weeks after the death of the person who was being cared for, including where that person was a child. Carer's benefit continues for six weeks. Domiciliary care allowance continues to be paid for three months after the death of the child being cared for. The working family payment and the back to work family dividend also remain in payment for up to six weeks after the death of a qualifying child. Eligibility may continue beyond those six weeks if there are other children associated with the claim.

Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, the Department may make an exceptional needs payment to help meet essential, once-off expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet from their weekly income. An application can be made under the essential needs payment scheme for assistance with funeral and burial expenses where there is an inability to pay these costs, in part or in full, by the family of the deceased person without causing hardship.

In 2020, approximately 2,800 exceptional needs payments, totalling €5.7 million, were made towards funeral and burial costs. In budget 2020, €60,000 was allocated to the Irish Hospice Foundation to carry out a research project into funeral poverty in Ireland, together with the wider economic impact of bereavement. The project is expected to be completed in the near future.

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