Dublin: In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court has affirmed the entitlement of the spouse of a deceased woman to a widower’s pension, favouring John O’Meara, a single father of three. The decision asserts John’s right to a widow’s contributory pension, even though he and his late partner, Michelle Baty, were not formally married but in a civil partnership.
The Department of Social Protection informed the court of its commitment to considering legislative changes to implement this order. John O’Meara and his three children took their case to the Supreme Court after the High Court upheld the minister’s initial refusal to grant the pension.
Michelle Baty, a 42-year-old breast cancer patient, succumbed to COVID in early 2021. Despite their intention to marry after Michelle’s cancer diagnosis, she passed away before they could formalise their union. The denial of pension to John O’Meara, based on his unmarried status and lack of a formal civil partnership, prompted his legal challenge.
Expressing satisfaction with the court’s decision, O’Meara believes that this ruling will positively impact numerous families in Ireland facing similar circumstances.
The court emphasised the arbitrariness of distinguishing between married and unmarried couples, asserting that such a differentiation is invalid in cases like John’s. It noted that general social welfare provisions do not discriminate between married couples and cohabitants, as the grief caused by the death of a partner is irrespective of marital status. The profound impact on children, regardless of their parents’ marital status, was underscored, with the court deeming the relevant distinction between children of long-term extramarital relationships and those of married parents as unconstitutional. The court suggested legislative changes to address this inconsistency.
The ruling was welcomed by Treoir, an organisation supporting single parents, which highlighted the plight of 170,000 cohabiting couples in the country, 75,000 of whom have children but do not receive government assistance. The organisation criticised the ruling’s limited scope in relation to specific social welfare payments and expressed uncertainty about its potential impact on childless partners in long-term relationships.
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