Call for Bereavement Grant to be reintroduced

Independent Ireland’s Shane P. O’Reilly is calling on the Minister for Social Protection to “urgently reintroduce” payment of the Death Benefit to families.

He made the call at the May meeting of Cavan County Council.

The Mullagh man has also asked that social welfare payments for six weeks post death to spouses only, be extended to cover the next of kin in the event there is no spouse.

Cllr O’Reilly said that, in her wisdom, former Social Protection Minister Joan Burton “suspended” the Bereavement Grant, also known as the Death Benefit.

The grant, which saw bereaved families receive a flat rate of €850, was discontinued during the financial crisis and not paid for deaths on or after January 1, 2014.

An undertaker himself, Cllr O’Reilly said that a funeral/burial is a “costly exercise.”

He said the move by the former Minister was “short sighted” and he asked the Cavan County Council executive to write to ask that the grant be “re-introduced”.

Cllr Brendan Fay (Ind) supported the motion, as did Cllr T.P. O’Reilly (FG).

Regarding the social welfare payment for spouses, Cllr O’Reilly (II) told the Celt:

“If the spouse is not alive or if a person is separated or divorced, it means that the six weeks payment, that can help a family greatly in expenses after somebody has passed away, cannot be passed onto the next of kin.

“It’s non-payable and I don’t think it’s fair at all, I think it’s really, really wrong.”