Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 177: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will confirm that while cohabiting couples are deemed to be on a par with married couples for taxation purposes, if the male partner of this common-law relationship dies, that his partner would be entitled to a widow's pension and if not, why not; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16313/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that taxation matters are primarily a matter for my colleague the Minister for Finance.

In relation to entitlement to a Widow's, Widower's or Surviving Civil Partner's Contributory Pension , to qualify for this payment, which is based on social insurance contributions, you must be a widow, widower or ( since 1 January 2011) a surviving civil partner .

Cohabitees do not qualify for this payment because cohabitees are not ,or have not been married in the first instance and therefore do not satisfy the criteria of being a widow(er) / surviving civil partner.

While the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 creates a cohabitant's redress scheme for same-sex and opposite-sex couples giving protection to an economically dependent party at the end of a long-term cohabiting relationship, this does not extend to the provision of survivor's benefits which are payable only to those who were married or in a civil partnership.