Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 section 81

Death benefit for bereaved partners and increases for qualified children, etc.

Section 81 sets out the entitlement to a death benefit pension for bereaved partners — including surviving spouses, civil partners, and qualifying cohabitants — under the occupational injuries scheme, together with the circumstances in which the pension ceases or is increased.

• Death benefit is a weekly pension of €284.50 payable to the bereaved partner of a deceased person, with additional increases for those of pensionable age living alone (€22.00) and an extra €19.20 for pensionable age
• The pension increases for qualified children normally residing with the beneficiary: €58.00 per week for each child under 12 and €78.00 for each child aged 12 or over, with further increases for beneficiaries aged 80 or over (€10.00) or ordinarily resident on an island (€20.00)
• The pension ceases permanently if the beneficiary marries, remarries, enters a civil partnership, or becomes a qualified cohabitant, and is suspended during any period of cohabitation
• For deaths occurring after the passing of the 2025 Act, a married spouse or civil partner who had lived apart from the deceased and was not in an intimate and committed relationship for at least two years before the death is not considered a bereaved partner