My husband passed away recently and he was in receipt of both an Irish and UK state pension. I live in the UK - we are both Irish citizens - but I never worked in Ireland but he did for around 11 years.
He received about 240 euro a week in Irish state pension - including around 110 euro as an increase for a qualified adult for me as I only had a small UK state pension in addition to his UK state pension. He worked in Ireland from around 1948 to 1959 so had some pre 1953 pension rights.
I assumed I would be eligible to inherit some of his pension as a widows pension based on his contributions in Ireland. However I was informed by the pensions office in Sligo when I spoke to them that this was not the case and would instead need to apply via the UK pensions service in Newcastle for any widows pension as I wasn't entitled to get two pensions?
Is this correct? Should I be eligible for some sort of Irish widows pension in addition to my enhanced UK pension and should this not be applied for to the Irish pension office?
Thanks for your advice.
He received about 240 euro a week in Irish state pension - including around 110 euro as an increase for a qualified adult for me as I only had a small UK state pension in addition to his UK state pension. He worked in Ireland from around 1948 to 1959 so had some pre 1953 pension rights.
I assumed I would be eligible to inherit some of his pension as a widows pension based on his contributions in Ireland. However I was informed by the pensions office in Sligo when I spoke to them that this was not the case and would instead need to apply via the UK pensions service in Newcastle for any widows pension as I wasn't entitled to get two pensions?
Is this correct? Should I be eligible for some sort of Irish widows pension in addition to my enhanced UK pension and should this not be applied for to the Irish pension office?
Thanks for your advice.