Laura Harmon (Labour)

I welcome the visitors in the Gallery, including one of my best friends, Patrick Dempsey, and his sisters, Tiffany and Gabrielle.

On this Bill, I welcome the Minister. It is good to have this engagement.

The social welfare system, as it stands, is failing couples who are not married or whose marriages have not been formalised. The Department of Social Protection is inconsistent in that it measures both members of an unmarried partnership when means testing for jobseeker's or carer's allowance but provides not guarantee of support upon the death of partner. This inconsistency must be amended. Grieving partners are being shunned by the Government upon the death of their loved one and we must put an end to this.

I welcome this Bill which will allow bereaved partners to receive a pension as a bereaved partner but also recognise that all families and children must be treated equally in the State.

The work recently done on this Bill is as a result of Johnny O'Meara's appeal in the Supreme Court. It is extremely unfortunate that he had to take this case to the Supreme Court. Mr. O'Meara brought this case before the courts because he was denied access to the social protection afforded to widows following the death of his partner, Michelle. Despite Johnny and his partner being together for over 20 years and having three children together, he had to go all the way to the Supreme Court level to receive the protections that are afforded to married people.

The Labour Party, and particularly, Deputy Alan Kelly, has supported Johnny all the way in this. We are happy to see this progressed in the Dáil and now in the Seanad. My fellow party member, Deputy Mark Wall, raised this in the Seanad in 2022 as well, highlighting the rise in couples who are unmarried and choosing not to marry and the need to provide support to all families suffering this kind of loss.

This Bill can go a long way to address this inequality. The Labour Party has long called for the protection of cohabiting partners and we need to support these changes as a step towards equality for families in this country. There should not be one rule for married people and another for unmarried people in 2025. The law has to evolve to recognise the diversity of families in this country and we will be supporting this.