Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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83. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to deal with the outcome of the UK Supreme Court case on the exclusion of cohabitees from claiming widowed parent's allowance and the findings of eligibility under the ECHR; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38857/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The recent Judgement of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (“UKSC”) regarding the Widowed parent’s allowance (WPA) has been examined by my Department, and it appears that it does not have any relevance to the Widows/Widowers/Surviving Civil Partners Contributory Pension (WCP) paid by my Department.

In the first instance, it should be noted that decisions of UK courts do not change the law in this State. However, given the case was taken in the context of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), my officials examined the ruling to see if the reasoning in the ruling might have applicability for the WCP, which is paid to over 120,000 widows, widowers and surviving civil partners each week.

The ruling explicitly recognised that such payments may be based on marital status, under the ECHR. Paragraph 25 of the judgement referenced the previous Shackell v United Kingdom (2000) case where the European Court of Human Rights “declared inadmissible a complaint that denying widow’s benefits to unmarried surviving partners discriminated against the survivor and her children on the ground of her unmarried status and the children’s illegitimacy”. The award of benefits to couples who have entered marriage is a feature of most European countries, both within the benefits system and the tax code, and is in compliance with the ECHR.

The basis of the UKSC ruling against the UK Government in this case was that the WPA was primarily an allowance to support the weekly costs of dependant children, and not the living costs of the parent. Paragraph 27 of the ruling noted that WPA "is only paid because the survivor is responsible for the care of children who were at the date of death the responsibility of one or both of them. Its purpose must be to benefit the children.”

This is in contrast to the provisions of the WCP in Ireland, which is paid to widows, widowers and surviving civil partners, regardless of whether or not they have children.

WCP is paid to the husband, wife or civil partner of a deceased person, and is a weekly pension, available to those who satisfy the necessary PRSI contribution conditions, either on their own record or on that of the deceased spouse, provided the applicant is not cohabiting.

The legal context governing relationships such as marriage is regulated by the Minister for Justice and Equality. Entering into a marriage or civil partnership is a legal act, which confers both rights and obligations on both parties which do not exist in law between co-habiting couples. Widows, widowers and surviving civil partners, who become bereaved, therefore, lose someone who had legal duties towards them, and the social welfare code recognises this by providing a pension to them, subject to certain conditions.

It was for these reasons that the social welfare supports for widows and widowers were extended to surviving civil partners from 1 January 2011, when the provisions of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 came into force.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.