asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason widowers do not come within the scope of EC Directive 79/7/EEC on equal treatment as between men and women in matters of social security; his views on whether if a widow is entitled to death payment, a widower should also be entitled, as in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 12; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Article 3 of EEC Directive 79/7/EEC specifically provides that the directive does not apply to survivors' benefits.

The payment referred to by the Deputy is the payment of benefit in certain circumstances to a dependant of a social welfare beneficiary for a period of six weeks after the death of the beneficiary. The general arrangements for after death payments are that such payments are made to widows whose husbands had been in receipt of a social welfare payment with an increase for the wife as a dependant. These payments come under the heading of survivors' benefits and are not, therefore, covered by the EEC Directive.

In relation to the particular case referred to by the Deputy, the widower in the case was himself the beneficiary, being in receipt of a retirement pension with an increase for his wife. A widow in similar circumstances would not have qualified for the after death payment which only arises where the beneficiary dies, not the dependant.

Is the Minister aware of the problems which arise for widowers whose spouses die? Is he prepared to consider some special arrangement, at least for hardship cases, among widowers? I do not think that anyone would ask the Minister to consider a pension for widowers because of the clear cost implications but there are very special cases. Will the Minister consider some scheme to make provision for cases where, for instance, a working widower loses the tax-free allowance for his spouse and only gets a single person's tax bands? If he is not working he does not get any pension; he is in receipt of unemployment assistance.

I agree that in general there is a question to be considered further although there are cost implications involved. However, this question refers to a particular set of circumstances in which after-death payments are made. The circumstances in which such payments were made were revised to take account of the new arrangements and such payments are made to the widow. However, when the wife dies, payment is made to the husband provided that the benefit which was being paid to the wife included an increase in respect of the husband as an adult dependant. I know it is complicated but the husband benefited if he was a dependant of his wife.

I appreciate the Minister's remark but does he not agree that there is no equality in the law in practice in regard to single parent families where the parent is a man, regardless of the fact that he is a widower or a deserted husband? This small section of the community is one of the most needy and there should be special arrangements to deal with so many tragic cases.

As I said, the question refers to a specific case and set of circumstances. Notwithstanding that, I recognise that there is a need to introduce benefits for spouses whenever this can be achieved. That is the direction in which the changes are going but the principal problem is the cost involved. With each successive budget in future, that question will have to be examined further.

I know the Minister rightly wants to avoid innovation which would cost a lot of money. However, we should make arrangements to deal with very special cases. For instance, a widower or a deserted husband with four children could receive £30 a week less than a woman in similar circumstances. Many of these people are living in abject poverty. Perhaps provision could be made through the supplementary welfare system whereby community welfare officers could pay the difference.

We have gone into a totally different question now. I accept that this area needs further attention. If there is a clear need under the current criteria, it can be dealt with under supplementary welfare allowances. As the Deputy knows, however, that would not meet some of the circumstances which the Deputy has in mind.

These cases are not provided for under the supplementary welfare system and frequently community welfare officers deny assistance to men in these circumstances. I have had several of these cases in my own constitutency——

We are having an expansion of the question.

I have had to resort to providing charity.

Deputy Gay Mitchell has arrived. We have had a series of questions on the subject matter of your question so I want to pass on to another one.

I was detained in connection with the Single European Act and I regret I was not in the Chamber for the Minister's reply. I appreciate there is a problem in regard to finance but I should like to ask the Minister if, bearing in mind that there would not be an enormous expenditure involved out of a total budget of the Department of £2,000 million, he will arrange for widowers to be treated in the same way that widows are treated in regard to death grants. Will the Minister agree it is a matter the Ombudsman should look into?

It is a matter for further and future consideration. There has been some improvement in that where a wife dies payment is made to the husband provided the benefit which was being paid to the wife included an increase in respect of the husband as an adult dependant. The introduction of that principle represents a development. I appreciate it does not mean there will be equal benefit to that which applies where the husband dies because in such cases the benefit carries on.

We have dwelt at length on this question. I will take a brief question from Deputy Gay Mitchell, one from Deputy Harney and then I will pass on to the next question.