Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Caroline and Martin Smith to the House today. I thank Senators Doherty and Seery Kearney for introducing vital legislation, which I look forward to supporting as it goes through the House.

I support my colleague Senator Craughwell. In fairness, it is correct that the Minister was in the House last week. He was answering questions when the bells rang for a vote and unfortunately he had to go. He offered to come back to the House. Senator Craughwell's call should be supported and I am sure the Minister will come back to answer those questions. As I said, he was in the middle of answering some detailed questions but unfortunately the bell rang and he had to stop.

It is good to see the Acting Leader in the Chair. I raise the issue of the entitlements of surviving cohabitants to a widow's or widower's pension. I raise it again in light of a recent High Court decision in which a Tipperary man, Mr. John O'Meara, was refused a widower's pension following the death of his loving partner of 20 years.According to RTÉ, "It was the role of the Oireachtas to decide exactly who should benefit from this pension, the judge said, adding that the making of such decisions 'is not a role which this court can legitimately play.'"

I introduced a Bill on behalf of the Labour Party in October 2021 to address this exact situation, entitled the Social Welfare (Surviving Cohabitant's Pension) Bill 2021. The Bill, as introduced, sought to amend the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 to entitle surviving cohabitants to a contributory widow's pension and to provide for related matters. The concept of family, as we all know in this House, has changed. It is time to bring Ireland into the 21st century. We all want families to be treated fairly, whether they are married or not. It is estimated there are 150,000 or more cohabiting couples in this country. The 2016 census showed there are more than 75,000 cohabiting couples in Ireland with child dependants, meaning these families will also lose out on the €8,000 grant provided to a widower with dependent children on the death of a married partner. I ask the Acting Leader for time in the House to discuss this important matter with the Minister for Social Protection.

As the Acting Leader is aware, I have spoken many times in this House about rural transport. I welcome the introduction of the new 821 rural link service in Kildare South that will link Newbridge with the town of Naas and the train station there. This new service is to be welcomed in that it will provide a seven-day Local Link public transport service to the villages of Kilmeague, Robertstown and Carragh for the first time, as well as an increased service for Milltown, Allenwood and Prosperous. I have continually raised over recent years the lack of public transport services from these villages. It is one of the biggest issues that has been raised with me by local residents. I wish to thank Kildare Rural Transport Link, its manager, Alan Kerry, and indeed the National Transport Authority, NTA, for listening to locals and public representatives. I look forward to the new service commencing next Monday, 17 October.