Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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750. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to enable working persons in receipt of a contributory widow's pension to access illness benefit when sick in the interests of fairness in view of the fact that such benefits are available to all other workers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37505/18]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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Entitlements under the social welfare system are primarily based on a number of defined contingencies such as sickness, unemployment, old age or widowhood. There are two basic principles which underpin the Irish social insurance system.

Firstly there is the contributory principle which links the PRSI contributions that a person has paid and their entitlement to a range of benefits and pensions. Where a person has sufficient PRSI contributions, then benefits and pensions may be paid, subject to legislative provisions, where a particular contingency arises, and without a means test.

Secondly there is the solidarity principle where the benefits and pensions that are paid are not directly related to the amount of PRSI contributions paid by insured persons. PRSI contribution income is instead redistributed to support contributors who are more likely to have an income need as a result of circumstances that have arisen in their lives. In this regard, it should be noted that most PRSI contributors do not experience all of the contingencies during their life. For example, one contributor may never require access to Invalidity Pension whereas it may be a crucial support for another. It should also be noted that access to Widow’s/Widower’s/Surviving Civil Partner’s Contributory Pension is available to those who have been married or in a civil partnership only, and that scheme will not benefit someone who has been single all their life.

The purpose of the benefits and pension system is to provide a person with an adequate income. The rate of payment is set with this objective in mind, and the fact that there are a number of ways one can qualify for a pension does not mean someone may qualify for multiple PRSI-funded payments at the same time. As is common with social security systems across the world, the Irish social welfare system generally applies the principle of one person, one full payment.

It can happen that a person may experience more than one contingency at the same time, e.g., an unemployed person may also become sick and incapable of work. The PRSI paid by the person and their employers only provides coverage for one payment at such times. Under the legislation for the schemes, if a person experiences more than one of these contingencies at the same time, generally he or she can receive only one core payment. Amending the social welfare system to allow Illness Benefit (or Jobseekers Benefit if they are unemployed) to be paid in addition to a pension such as a Widow’s pension would be a significant change to the system, as it would in effect be a double payment, providing certain people with the income currently paid for two people, and would greatly increase costs. This extra cost would have to be financed from either an increase in the rate of PRSI contributions, an increase in the Exchequer subvention to the scheme, or a reduction in the rate of payments.

There are a number of supports in the social welfare system which benefit widows, including those of working age such as the Fuel Allowance Scheme. To receive Fuel Allowance, Widows pension recipients must also satisfy the other conditions for that payment, i.e., be unable to provide for their heating needs from the resources of their household, live alone or only with one of a list of exempted persons, and satisfy a means test.

In addition, a widow aged between 60 and 65 years, whose late spouse/civil partner received the Household Benefits package from this Department, may qualify for that package if they otherwise satisfy all other conditions and receive a relevant qualifying payment.

I hope this clarifies matters for the Deputy.