Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2025
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Qualified cohabitant | ||
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6. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 123: | ||
“123A. (1) For the purposes of this Act, and subject to subsections (2) to (4), a person shall be a qualified cohabitant if— | ||
(a) the person is one of 2 adults (whether of the same or the opposite sex) who are not related to each other within the prohibited degrees of relationship or married to each other or civil partners of each other and who have been living together in an intimate and committed relationship as a couple— | ||
(i) for a period of 2 years or more, in a case where there are one or more children of the relationship, and | ||
(ii) for a period of 5 years or more, in any other case, | ||
or | ||
(b) the person— | ||
(i) is a person referred to in paragraph (a) on the date of death of his or her deceased partner, or | ||
(ii) is a person referred to in paragraph (a) whose relationship ended not more than 2 years before the date of death of his or her deceased partner. | ||
(2) For the purpose of this Act— | ||
(a) 2 adults are within a prohibited degree of relationship if they would be prohibited from marrying each other in the State, or they are in a relationship referred to in the Third Schedule to the Civil Registration Act 2004 , | ||
(b) qualified cohabitants who live in the same dwelling as one another shall be considered as living apart from one another if the Minister is satisfied that, while so living in the same dwelling, the qualified cohabitants do not live together as a couple in an intimate and committed relationship, | ||
(c) a relationship does not cease to be an intimate relationship merely because it is no longer sexual in nature, | ||
(d) subject to any regulations under subsection (4)(b), a person shall not be a qualified cohabitant if he or she had been living apart from the person in relation to whom a claim is based for more than 2 years before that person’s death, and | ||
(e) a reference to a ‘qualified cohabitant’ in relation to a person who has been a qualified cohabitant more than once, refers only to the last qualified cohabitant of the person concerned. | ||
(3) In determining whether or not a person is a qualified cohabitant, the Minister shall take into account all the circumstances of the relationship in question and in particular shall have regard to the following: | ||
(a) the duration of the relationship; | ||
(b) the basis on which the couple lived together; | ||
(c) the degree of financial dependence of either adult on the other and any agreements in respect of their finances; | ||
(d) the degree and nature of any financial arrangements between the adults including any joint purchase of an estate or interest in land or joint acquisition of personal property; | ||
(e) whether there are one or more children of the relationship; | ||
(f) any payment under this Act payable to one or both of the adults and the conditions in relation to the payment; | ||
(g) the degree to which the adults present themselves to others as a couple; | ||
(h) whether one of the adults cares for and supports the children of the other. | ||
(4) (a) The Minister may, for the purposes of section 81, this Chapter, Chapter 21 of Part 2 and Chapter 6 of Part 3, by regulations, make provision in relation to the documentary proof, including information or specific documentation to be provided by a person in support of an application, where any of the matters specified in subsection (3) are relied on for a claim based on the person being a qualified cohabitant and, notwithstanding the generality of the foregoing, any such regulations may provide for— | ||
(i) any additional evidence that may be offered by a person to demonstrate the nature, extent and duration of the relationship, | ||
(ii) such other matters as the Minister considers appropriate for the purposes of section 81, this Chapter, Chapter 21 of Part 2 and Chapter 6 of Part 3, | ||
(b) The Minister may by regulations specify the circumstances (including residence in a medical institution) in which, and periods during which (including periods longer than 2 years), qualified cohabitants who are in an intimate and committed relationship but are living apart may, for the purpose of subsection (2)(d), be deemed to be periods when they are living together. | ||
(5) The question as to whether a person is a qualified cohabitant, there being no legal impediment, in accordance with subsection (2), to such a determination, is a question that may be decided by a deciding officer having taken into account the matters specified in subsection (3), including any information or documentation required in accordance with any regulations made under subsection (4). | ||
(6) In this section, ‘child of the relationship’ means any child of whom both of the qualified cohabitants are the parents.”. |