Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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1424. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he is aware of the inequitable treatment of young widowed people in Ireland, particularly in the areas of taxation, financial supports, and access to essential benefits under current social protection policy; if he will consider retaining dual tax credits and rate bands for widows, widowers and surviving civil partners, extending financial supports to widows, widowers and surviving civil partners that reflect the long-term realities of supporting children through school and college, and the challenges widowed people face as sole caregivers and provide access to sick leave so as widowed people are not penalised for needing time to address their own health and well-being; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19580/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Matters relating to taxation are a matter for the Revenue Commissioners and my colleague the Minister for Finance. Matters relating to sick leave and employment rights are a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. Therefore, queries relating to those issues should be directed to the relevant Ministers.

My Department provides a suite of income supports. These include insurance-based schemes, based on Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contributions, and means-tested social assistance schemes.

Widow's, Widower's or Surviving Civil Partner's (Contributory) Pension (WCP) is a weekly payment to the widow, widower or surviving civil partner of a deceased person. The pension remains payable while the person remains widowed or a surviving civil partner and the payment is not means tested. As a result, a person can be in receipt of WCP and earn income from employment or self-employment.

Where a person is unable to work as a result of illness, my Department provides the Illness benefit payment. Illness benefit is the primary short term income support provided by my Department to those who are unable to work due to illness of any type and who are covered by social insurance. Eligibility for illness benefit depends on the person’s PRSI record and class. People must have made the required number of contributions under PRSI classes A, E, H or P to qualify.

There is a general principle of one person, one payment, which applies across the social welfare system. Given the contingency-based nature of this system, it can happen that a person may experience more than one contingency at the same time but, generally, they can receive only one payment. This principle is common to social security systems across the world. Illness benefit and WCP are, generally, not payable concurrently. However, if a customer is getting a reduced rate of WCP, they may also get a reduced rate of illness benefit, so that the combined amount of both payments is not greater than the maximum rate of illness benefit to which they would otherwise be entitled.

The Widowed or Surviving Civil Partner Grant (WPG) is a once-off payment to widows, widowers or surviving civil partners with dependent children. This grant is available to widows, widowers or surviving civil partners who have one or more dependent children living with them at the date of death, or a widow or surviving civil partner whose child is born within 10 months of the date of death of her spouse or civil partner. This grant is a once-off payment of €8,000.

As the Deputy is aware, the Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025, which is currently before the Oireachtas proposes to extend eligibility to WCP and WPG to Qualifying Cohabitants.

Other payments made by my Department include the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance, Child Benefit, Carer's Benefit and Allowance. Each of these payments have their own qualifying criteria, however the civil status of each applicant is not a factor.

Furthermore, my Department operates Additional Needs Payments as part of the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme for people of any age, who have an urgent need which they cannot meet from their own resources. These payments are available through our Community Welfare Officers.

The rates of payment are set as part of the Budgetary process and are informed by various data including the CSO SILC. In recent successive Budgets, the social welfare packages were the largest in the history of the State, and the last three Budgets contained significant cost of living packages. The Government is focused on continuing to deliver on measures to address poverty and social exclusion.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.