In regard to social welfare, section 3(12) of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1993, defines spouse for the purposes of the Act as each person of a married couple who are living together, or a man and woman who are not married to each other but are cohabiting as husband and wife. This definition is based on the outcome of the Hyland case in 1987, which dealt with the level of payments received by married couples and those who are co-habiting. The latter had been treated as single people and received two full payments, which placed married couples at a disadvantage as they received approximately 1.6 times the personal rate. As a result of this case and in order to ensure that married couples did not receive less favourable treatment than a co-habiting couple, the definition of a married couple was widened, for social welfare purposes, to include co-habiting couples. Payments to co-habiting couples were then adjusted downwards to bring them into line with those of married couples. I understand that this is the position in respect of social welfare payments generally, but does not apply for the purpose of eligibility for widow's or widower's pensions where co-habitation is not recognised.