Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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91. To ask the Minister for Social Protection to consider increasing the maximum rate of widow's pension. [15105/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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There are three main schemes operated by the Department which are payable to widows, widowers and surviving civil partners: a contributory pension, a death benefit pension and a non-contributory pension. The latter scheme is only payable to widow/er’s and surviving civil partners under 66 years of age with no children – claimants aged 66 and over can apply for the non-contributory state pension and claimants aged under 66 with children can apply for the one-parent family payment.

The Department’s allocation for 2016 is €1.4 billion for expenditure on the contributory pension for 2016, €7.5 million for the (contributory) death benefit pension and a further €15.8 million for the non-contributory pension. This represents 7.25% of the Department’s overall expenditure for 2016. At the end of April 2016, there were almost 120,000 recipients of the widow/er’s and surviving civil partner’s contributory pension.

The rates of payment on these schemes differ depending on the age of the recipient. For those aged 66 and over, the maximum rate is €233.30 per week for recipients of the widow/er’s and surviving civil partner’s contributory pension and €237.70 for recipients of the widow/er’s and surviving civil partner’s death benefit pension, while for those under 66 of age, the maximum rates are €193.50 and €218.50 per week for the contributory and death benefit pensions, respectively. The widow/er’s and surviving civil partner’s non-contributory pension has a rate of €188 per week.

Recipients of these schemes aged 66 and over may also benefit from the living alone allowance, the household benefits package, fuel allowance and the free travel scheme.

The Programme for Government contains a commitment to increase the rate of pensions and the living alone allowance above the rate of inflation. The appropriate level of supports for widows, widowers and surviving civil partners will be considered in a budgetary context.