Unmarried widower wins pension appeal
Law discriminatory against family, judges rule
THE long-term partner of a woman who died is entitled to the widower’s pension, even though they were not married nor in a civil partnership, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
John O’meara and his three children challenged a High Court decision to uphold the refusal by the Department of Social Protection to grant him the benefit.
Senior judges said the section of the legislation which led to the exclusion of Mr O’meara from receiving the cash was invalid and unconstitutional as it did not extend to him and his children.
Michelle Batey, Mr O’meara’s partner of over 20 years, died after she was diagnosed with Covid-19 in January 2021.
He claimed the Widowers Contributory Pension but was refused on the grounds he was not the widower or surviving civil partner of Ms Batey, as was required by a section of the 2005
Act. Mr O’meara and their children, claimed that sections of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act was discriminatory.
It was argued the family were excluded from receiving the pension as they didn’t marry nor had they had a civil partnership.
Mr O’meara and his three minor children challenged the constitutionality of the legislation, however it was dismissed by Mr Justice Mark Heslin last year.
But yesterday, the seven-judge Supreme Court unanimously overturned the decision, saying the section 124 of legislation was “invalid”, having regard to Article 40.1 of the Constitution of Ireland, which states all citizens should be equal before the law.
The Chief Justice Donal O’donnell said the provision is a contributory social welfare benefit “addressed to a loss giving rise to a recognised need for support, where that loss, both emotional and financial, is not in any way different whether the survivor is married or not”.
Justice O’donnell added: “WCP is increased when there are dependent children which recognises the survivor may not just be a spouse [or civil partner] but is also a parent and the survivor will have additional costs and expenses associated with maintaining any dependent children.”
Justice Seamus Woulfe said: “While couples may have a choice whether or not to marry, children cannot make the choice between marriage and cohabitation.”
Children can’t make choice between marriage & cohabitation SEAMUS WOULFE YESTERDAY