Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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82. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the terms of the widow's or widower's pension, particularly in respect of non-married or cohabiting couples, and the judgment of the Supreme Court on 22 January 2024; the expected timeline in terms of the legislative changes that are required in respect of this decision; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9018/25]

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister and wish him the very best in his new role. I very much look forward to working with him in a constructive way, which, as he knows from our previous engagements, is how I work. I will not say it is my trademark; I am sure he knows what I mean.

My question is a very straightforward one. It relates to the Supreme Court judgment issued in January 2024. I am looking for information on the timeline for legislation. If the Minister would also speak a little on backdating of payments, that would be useful.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I congratulate the Deputy on her new role and wish her well. I look forward to working with all Deputies in my role in the Department of Social Protection.

Under the law as currently enacted, entitlement to a widow's, widower's or surviving civil partner’s contributory pension is only available to a surviving partner who was party to a marriage or civil partnership. However, as the Deputy is aware, on 22 January 2024, the Supreme Court delivered its judgment on the entitlement of an unmarried cohabitant to a widow's, widower's or surviving civil partner's contributory pension. The Supreme Court judgment found in favour of the claimant, Mr. O'Meara, and his children. 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 Mr. O'Meara 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 judgment notes that to resolve the issue raised by its judgment, a legislative amendment is required. In June 2024, the then Government approved the priority drafting of the legislative changes required. The general scheme of a Bill was referred to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, OPC, for priority drafting and to the joint committee on social protection. The draft legislation raised a number of complex issues that require the advice of the Attorney General. There is ongoing engagement. A stamped draft of the Bill has been received. I intend to bring it to the Government imminently in order to obtain approval for its introduction.

I will deal with the other issue the Deputy raised in our subsequent exchanges. I acknowledge the work of Deputy Kelly, in particular, and of Deputy Buckley, who have consistently raised this issue with me in the weeks since my appointment.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister's news is very welcome. If he could put a date on "imminently", it would be even more welcome. He referenced the case taken by John O'Meara. In the aftermath of that case, which he won, Mr. O'Meara was reported as saying, "We are all equal as regards families." However, all families will not be equal until the legislation goes through. This will impact on 150,000 cohabiting couples. I am dealing with cases in my office, as I am sure the Minister is, where people are grieving following the death of their cohabiting partner. When they try to claim whatever form of social welfare they might be entitled to, they find their assessment is based on the previous year, when they had two incomes. The system is very dismissive of their grief. Their relationship - their family - is real, yet the State does not recognise it. I know it is not lost on the Minister, as is often said, that the Department would be quick enough to go after people if they owed money back to the State. I hope he will address the matter of backdating. According to Treoir, there are people in this situation who have had to sell their homes in order to keep themselves afloat.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I absolutely agree that grief does not distinguish, including in the circumstances we are discussing. Under the draft legislation, it is proposed that a person who becomes eligible for the scheme will be able to claim, irrespective of the date of death of his or her partner. It is also proposed that the claims will be backdated to the date of the judgment, which is 22 January 2024, that found the existing law to be inconsistent with the Constitution. Where the death preceded that date, it is not proposed to backdate payments prior to the date of the judgment. This approach reflects established principles on payments where provision is found to be unconstitutional. There are other supports available to people. If there are cases arising, I will deal with them with Deputy O'Reilly or any Deputy. Deputy Wall has tabled a similar question on this issue.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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With regard to backdating, my concern is not just in respect of the case taken by John O'Meara. There are cases in the system that predate the judgment. Will the Minister give some consideration to those people, as well as people who are experiencing issues on an individual basis? I do not imagine the numbers will be huge. However, we have seen a large increase in the number of cohabiting couples. This issue needs to be fixed for the future. I imagine that, looking back, we are not talking about a huge number of people, but we could be talking about an awful lot of hardship. I understand the logic of backdating to the date of the judgment but there will be cases that are in the system and it would not be fair to those people to tell them they must go all the way to the Supreme Court to get the backdating. Some consideration might be given to setting up a high-level group to troubleshoot those cases, all of which will be individual. I genuinely do not think we will be looking at large numbers. However, we are talking about people who have suffered real and extreme hardship. As the Minister said, grief does not discriminate. These people were bereaved and they found themselves on the wrong side of a law that was very unequal and unfair.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I would not like to create an expectation. I want to be very careful. People are going through enough without me creating false expectations. We will look at the kinds of cases involved and the figures to see whether there is some way forward. I do not have any flexibility regarding the date of backdating, which is the date of the judgment. However, I want to try to be flexible. People are going through a terrible enough journey without inflexibility adding to their burden.