Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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227. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the position regarding a couple who are not married but living together and where one person of the couple is working, and when it comes to claiming social welfare they are looked on as a cohabiting couple and treated as one unit for Department of Social Protection purposes, but they cannot claim tax credits in respect of the other person who is not working at the same time; her views that this different treatment by two Departments is fair; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37935/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The income tax treatment of married and cohabiting couples is a matter for the Minister for Finance.

The social welfare code recognises the couple status of co-habiting couples and treats married and co-habiting couples in a similar manner. The EEC Equality Directive 79/9 and the subsequent Supreme Court case (Hyland v Minister for Social Welfare, 1989) led to the change in treatment of non-married cohabiting couples in the social welfare code. The Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the total income a married couple received in social welfare benefits to be less than the couple would have received if they were cohabiting. Accordingly, married and cohabiting couples as well as cohabiting couples are treated identically for social welfare purposes.