Proposed reductions to the social welfare entitlements of divorced and separated lone parents not required by O’Meara judgment, FLAC tells Oireachtas Committee
18 June 2025
- FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres) appeared before the Oireachtas Social Welfare Committee this morning (18 June 2025) to outline its proposed amendments to the Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension) Bill 2025.
- The 2025 Bill will give effect to the Supreme Court decision in O’Meara in which FLAC represented the O’Meara family.
- The legal rights NGO expressed strong concerns regarding the Bill’s proposals to remove the entitlement of people who are divorced or separated to a survivors’ pensions if their former partner dies.
In an appearance before the Oireachtas Social Protection Committee this morning, FLAC welcomed the implementation of the O’Meara judgment and the provisions of the Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension) Bill 2025 which will expand entitlement to widow/widower’s pensions to qualified cohabitants and their children. However, the organisation is concerned at the “levelling-down” of the entitlement of families where the parents were divorced or separated to survivor’s pensions.
In her opening statement to the Committee, FLAC Chief Executive Eilis Barry, stated:
“The reduction in the social welfare entitlements of a particularly vulnerable category of lone parents and their children (those who were reliant on maintenance from a former partner who has died) is in no way required by the O’Meara decision. In fact, the proposed changes may be inconsistent with the equality and children’s rights principles which underpin that landmark judgment...
The proposed changes will mean that all future applicants for a survivor’s pension will be required to prove to the Department of Social Protection that they were living with their partner in an intimate and committed relationship in the two years before that partner’s death, even where they were married and living in the same house... The new rules require the potentially invasive examination of the nature of a couple’s relationship and whether they were living together. This would occur after a bereavement when respecting the surviving partner’s right to privacy and dignity should be of tantamount concern.”
The 2025 Bill will undergo Committee Stage next Wednesday (25 June 2025). FLAC hopes to see its proposed amendments to the legislation adopted at that stage.
FLAC represented John O’Meara and his children in their successful challenge to the legislation that excluded them from access to a Widower’s Contributory Pension. The Supreme Court declared that the legislation (which only provides for payments to bereaved families in circumstances where the parents had been married or in a civil partnership) is unconstitutional by reference to the Constitution’s guarantee of equality before the law. The previous iteration of the Oireachtas Social Protection Committee endorsed FLAC’s recommendations concerning the 2025 Bill.
ENDS.
Read Eilis Barry’s Opening Statement to the Committee here and FLAC’s full written submission here.
About FLAC
FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres) is an independent legal, human rights and equality organisation, which exists to promote access to justice. It provides early and preventive legal assistance through a Telephone Information & Referral Line and Telephone Legal Advice Clinics. As an Independent Law Centre, FLAC takes on a number of cases in the public interest each year, and operates a Roma Legal Clinic and Traveller Legal Service. The organisation makes policy recommendations in relation to social welfare law, equality and anti-discrimination law, housing law, human rights and access to justice. This includes policy reports and submissions to national and international bodies, including Oireachtas Committees and human rights monitoring bodies.