Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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452. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the social protection supports and pension payments that a person (details supplied) can avail of. [15014/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Firstly, I would like to extend my condolences to the person concerned the sudden loss of her partner.

My Department provides a range of income supports for people who are parenting alone. These include the Widow(er)’s and Surviving Civil Partner’s Contributory Pension, One Parent Family Payment, and Jobseekers Transitional Payment.

One of the qualifying conditions for Widow(er)’s & Surviving Civil Partner’s Contributory Pension, is that the applicant must have been married to or been in a registered civil partnership with the deceased. As the person concerned was not married to the deceased, she would not be entitled to Widow(er)’s & Surviving Civil Partner’s Contributory Pension.

While the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 created 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 are legally married or in a civil partnership. Cohabitants are not eligible for survivor’s benefits.

As the Deputy mentioned, the woman is due to go on Maternity Leave from work. Maternity Benefit is a payment made to women who are on Maternity Leave from work or who are self-employed and who satisfy certain PRSI contribution conditions. Maternity Benefit is paid for 26 weeks at a rate of €262 per week. It is worth noting that when a person is in receipt of Maternity Benefit it is open to their employer to top-up the payment to the level of the person’s wages and some employers do this. New parents are also eligible for Child Benefit which is paid at €140 per month for each child.

The One-Parent Family Payment is a payment to support lone parents under 66 who are bringing children up without the support of a partner. This payment is means-tested and it is payable when the youngest child is under 7 years old. The Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment is available to lone parents whose youngest child is aged 7-13 years inclusive. It is also a means-tested payment for men and women who are bringing up a child – or children – without the support of a partner. These payments are paid at €220 per week with Increases for a Qualified Child of €42 per week in respect of each child under 12 and €50 per week in respect of each child aged 12 or over. It may be that the person to whom the Deputy refers would become eligible for One Parent Family Payment once her baby is born or she may already be eligible for one of these payments, depending on the age of her other children.

Generally, a person can only receive one primary social welfare payment at a time. However, there are provisions in place where by a person can receive a reduced rate Maternity Benefit payment in addition to a One-Parent Family Payment where they meet the qualifying conditions for both schemes.

However, to ascertain what supports the person may be eligible for from my Department, I would suggest that the person contact their local Intreo office and talk to the staff there as they will be able to advise the person appropriately based on the circumstances of their particular situation. Contact information for Intreo Offices can be found on Gov.ie.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.