John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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290. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will review the rule whereby her Department will only accept proof of the civil registration of a marriage and not church-registered marriages as proof of a relationship when her Department is considering an entitlement to either a widow/widower pension; and if an allowance will be made for those individuals who were married abroad in a church ceremony only and are now in a position where they wish to claim the pension. [28295/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Under current criteria for Widows, Widower or Surviving Civil Partnership's Contributory pension (WSCPCP) the applicant must be the legal widow, widower or surviving civil partner of the deceased person under Irish State law.

In order to determine this, a civil marriage certificate which has been registered with the Registrar of births, deaths and marriages, in the jurisdiction in which the marriage or civil partnership took place is required. A church marriage certificate cannot be accepted for this purpose.

My Department notes the judgement given by the Supreme Court on 22 January 2024, with regard to entitlement to an unmarried cohabitant to WSCPCP.

In simple terms, the Court found that section 124 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (as amended) is inconsistent with the Constitution insofar as it excluded the claimant from the category of persons entitled to benefit from it. The Court reached that conclusion on the basis of the equality guarantee contained in Article 40.1 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court recognises that legislative amendment is required.

Officials in my Department in conjunction with the Office of the Attorney General have been considering the measures necessary to respond to the Supreme Court judgment. The judgment raised a number of complex issues, and my officials have been developing the draft legislative changes that are required to implement the decision.

Until such time as the legislation has been enacted, my Department will not be in a position to assess the entitlement of the persons impacted by the judgement, to the relevant payments.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.