A man who was denied access to the widower’s pension because he was not married to his long-term partner has described his three-year battle to be given the state entitlement as a “fight for equality”.
THE Government will have to decide how long people will have to live together to qualify for social welfare benefits, the Taoiseach has told the Dáil. He was speaking in the wake of the unanimous decision by the seven-strong Supreme Court bench that the denial of a widower payment to a bereaved but unmarried father-of-three was unconstitutional.
The Court found that s. 124 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005 is invalid having regard to the provisions of Article 40.1 of the Constitution.
A man refused the widower’s contributory pension because he never married his late long-term partner has won a landmark Supreme Court appeal overturning the decision.