Written answers
Thursday, 2 October 2025
Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection
Social Welfare Benefits
Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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324. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if his Department plans to extend financial supports for widowers who face financial challenges as sole caregivers supporting their children through school and college; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52694/25]
Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Under the remit of my Department there are a suite of income supports which include insurance-based schemes, based on Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contributions, and means-tested social assistance schemes.
Bereaved Partners (Contributory) Pension (BCP) is a weekly payment to the widow, widower, surviving civil partner or qualified cohabitant of a deceased person. The pension remains payable unless the person cohabits with another person or marries, and the payment is not means tested. As a result, a person can be in receipt of BCP and earn income from employment or self-employment.
Where the widow, widower, surviving civil partner or qualified cohabitant has a dependant child they can claim the weekly Child Support Payment (CSP) of €50 per child for each child under the age of 12 or a CSP of €62 per child for each child over the age of 12.
If the child is 18 or over, a person can continue getting a CSP for 3 months after the child leaves second level education or finishes the Leaving Certificate. If a child remains in full-time education, a person on BCP can continue to receive a child support payment for them.
Until the dependent child turns 22, or
- Until the end of the academic year in which the dependent child turns 22.
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, under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, my department may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet essential expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income or other personal and household 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 hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
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