Social Welfare Act, 1973

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Deserted wife's benefit.

17.—(1) Section 14 of the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (l) (inserted by the Social Welfare (Pay-Related Benefit) Act, 1973 ) of subsection (1):—

“(m) deserted wife's benefit.”.

(2) The Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the insertion after section 25D (inserted by the Act of 1970) of the following section:

“25E (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, deserted wife's benefit shall be payable to a woman—

(a) who has been deserted by her husband,

(b) who, if she is less than forty years of age, has at least one qualified child residing with her,

(c) who satisfies the relevant contribution conditions, and

(d) who satisfies such other conditions as may be prescribed.

(2) The circumstances in which a woman is to be regarded for the purposes of this section as having been deserted by her husband shall be determined in accordance with regulations made under section 22 (5) (a) of the Social Welfare Act, 1970 .

(3) A child shall be a qualified child for the purposes of this section in relation to a woman if, on the assumption that her husband were dead, such child would be a qualified child in relation to her for the purposes of a widow's (contributory) pension under this Act.”.

(3) Section 27 (1) of the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the insertion after “or invalidity pension or retirement pension” of “or deserted wife's benefit”.

(4) The Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the insertion after section 28B (inserted by the Act of 1970) of the following section:—

“28C (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, regulations made with the sanction of the Minister for Finance may provide for entitling to deserted wife's benefit persons who would be entitled thereto but for the fact that the relevant contribution conditions are not satisfied in relation to the average number of contributions paid or credited per contribution year.

(2) Regulations for the purposes of this section shall provide that deserted wife's benefit payable by virtue thereof shall be payable at a rate less than that specified in the Third Schedule to this Act, and the rate specified by the regulations may vary with the extent to which the contribution conditions are satisfied, but any increase of benefit payable under subsection (1) of section 27 of this Act shall be the same as if the relevant contribution conditions had been fully satisfied.”.

(5) Section 47 (2) (b) of the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the insertion before “invalidity pension, retirement pension,” (inserted by the Act of 1970) of “deserted wife's benefit,”.

(6) The Fourth Schedule to the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the insertion after paragraph 9 (inserted by the Act of 1970) of the following paragraph:—

“10. Deserted Wife's Benefit.

The contribution conditions for deserted wife's benefit are—

(a) that not less than one hundred and fifty-six employment contributions have been paid in respect of the husband in respect of the period beginning with his entry into insurance and ending immediately before the relevant time, and

(b) that, if at the relevant time four years or longer has elapsed since the husband's entry into insurance, the average per contribution year of the contributions paid in respect of or credited to him in respect of the period commencing at the beginning of the contribution year in which his entry into insurance occurred and ending at the end of the last complete contribution year before the relevant time is not less than forty-eight,

but, if the foregoing conditions are not satisfied on the husband's insurance record, they may be satisfied on the woman's insurance record (the husband's insurance record being disregarded).

In this paragraph ‘relevant time’ means the date on which the woman is determined to have been deserted by her husband.”.

(7) This section shall come into operation on the 5th day of July, 1973.