Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2025-05-27
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. He made a number of fair points. When a widow loses her husband or a husband loses his wife, the cost of running a household does not go down. The costs are similar, if not additional in some respects depending on age and so on, with having to look after children if the parents return to work. It creates enormous challenges.
It is also a very lonely journey for quite a period. I will ask the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Calleary, particularly in the context of the next budget, if he could examine the points the Deputy has raised and the various anomalies that potentially exist. The social protection is broad and has many different payments. Some of the policies are interrelated. If we move in one area, there is a ripple effect across the entire social protection system, although the status of the widow is worth considering, apart from the breadth of social protection payments that people receive. Generally, Departments are always worried about making exceptions for one particular category of person in receipt of payments in their systems but the Deputy has raised a number of important issues. I will ask the Minister to engage with the Deputy on this because he may have other examples, particularly on the sick pay argument. I will ask the Minister to pursue this. I will also engage with the Deputy in the context of the budget to see if there are other sensible or practical things we can do to alleviate the pressure and pain people go through in such circumstances.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-05-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:00:56+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-05-27