The Supreme Court has confirmed it is due to hear an appeal in April based on the protections the Constitution gives to mothers working at home.
However, that date comes after a referendum on March 8th which may see the relevant article deleted and replaced with a watered-down version recognising ‘care’ within the family that the State would merely ‘strive’ to support.
The appellant mother, who effectively provides 24-hour care to her son and has no means of her own, is disputing the Department of Social Protection’s decision that she is not entitled to the full-rate of the carer’s allowance because the weekly income of her partner, the man’s father, is €850.
At a case management hearing on Tuesday, Ms Justice Marie Baker confirmed the appeal would be heard by the court on April 11th, after the referendum.
In a determination last November agreeing to hear an appeal, a panel of three Supreme Court judges said Article 41.2, has not been the subject of extensive consideration by the courts. The constitutional provisions at issue, it added, have never been examined in the context of the provision of public funds to parent obliged to care full-time for severely disabled children.
The case, the judges concluded, raised issues of general public importance “of systemic importance” to carers which should be decided by the Supreme Court.
