The partner of a woman who died three years ago has won a Supreme Court appeal against a decision to exclude him from the widower’s pension.
Despite being the father of her three children, John O’Meara from Toomevara was previously told he wasn’t entitled to it because they weren’t married.
Michelle Batey died in January 2021 after contracting Covid-19.
She and John O’Meara had been together for twenty years. They lived together and had three children.
After she died, John was told he wasn’t entitled to the widower’s pension because they weren’t married, nor had they entered into a civil partnership.
He challenged the constitutionality of the law but in a judgement delivered in October 2022, the High Court ruled against him.
However, the Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal of that decision, and today the court concluded, unanimously, that the part of the law which excluded him from availing of the social welfare payment was “invalid” and “unconstitutional.”
In his ruling, the Chief Justice, Donal O’Donnell, said the benefit was designed to address a loss giving rise to a recognised need for support, and he concluded that such a loss is not in any way different whether the survivor is married or not.
