Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Act, 1947

What is this act about?

This law, the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Act, 1947, re-enacts and modifies previous amendments to the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Acts from 1935 to 1940, originally made under emergency powers, and introduces further amendments to these Acts.

Who it applies to: Widows and orphans who may be eligible for contributory pensions; Persons employed in "excepted employments" under the Principal Act.

Deadlines:

For eligible persons absent from the State during "the appointed period" (starting September 3, 1939), certain periods of absence will not be counted when calculating the 18-month period for insurance purposes, and the required number of contributions for statutory conditions is 78 over 156 weeks (excluding weeks of absence).

At a glance

Country: Ireland
Area of law: Labour law
Articles: 8
Source: irishstatutebook.ie
Text retrieved: 2026-06-17
Explanation updated: 2026-07-07

What does this act regulate?

Provisions for certain persons in "excepted employments" who ceased to be so employed.
Insurance under the Pensions Acts for specific members of the Reserve Force.
Rules concerning persons who were absent from the State during a defined period.
Amendments to section 5 and section 42 of the Principal Act (Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Act, 1935).

Who does this act apply to?

Widows and orphans who may be eligible for contributory pensions.
Persons employed in "excepted employments" under the Principal Act.
Members of the Reserve Force called out for service.
Insured persons who left the State during a specific period (September 3, 1939, until a fixed closing date).

What are the key points?

Part II of this Act is considered to have started on June 14, 1946.
For certain persons whose "excepted employment" ceased, sums paid as contributions will be treated as properly payable, and they will be deemed to have been employed in such employment.
Members of the Reserve Force called out for service on or after September 1, 1939, who were in "excepted employment," are considered insured persons for the first three months of service, with contributions payable by the Minister for Defence.
For eligible persons absent from the State during "the appointed period" (starting September 3, 1939), certain periods of absence will not be counted when calculating the 18-month period for insurance purposes, and the required number of contributions for statutory conditions is 78 over 156 weeks (excluding weeks of absence).

Labour law

Unemployment Assistance (Amendment) Act, 1940

Presidential Elections (Amendment) Act, 1946

Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act, 1976

Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Act 2023

Trade Loans (Guarantee) Act, 1924

Pensions (Abatement) Act, 1965

National Bank Transfer Act, 1966

Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2012

Labour law

Legal text

Contents (8)

Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
Section 6
Section 7
Section 8

Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Act, 1947 Skip to content Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Gaeilge Léim go dtí an t-ábhar Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach English Gaeilge English Produced by the Office of the Attorney General Táirgthe ag Oifig an Ard-Aighne Home Legislation Acts of the Oireachtas Statutory Instruments Pre-1922 Legislation Constitution External Resources Bills (Houses of the Oireachtas) Iris Oifigiúil / Official Gazette Revised Acts (LRC) Classified List of Legislation (LRC) Translations (acts.ie) Translations (Houses of the Oireachtas) Government Publications for Sale EU Law (EUR-Lex) FAQ Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Search Baile Reachtaíocht Achtanna an Oireachtais Ionstraimí Reachtúla Reachtaíocht Réamh-1922 Bunreacht Acmhainní Seachtracha Billí (Tithe an Oireachtais) Iris Oifigiúil Achtanna Athbhreithnithe (CAD) (An Coimisiún um Athchóiriú an Dlí) Liosta Rangaithe Reachtaíochta Aistriúcháin (achtanna.ie) Aistriúcháin (Tithe an Oireachtais) Foilseacháin Rialtais ar Díol Dlí AE (EUR-Lex) CCanna (Ceisteanna Coitianta) Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach Cuardach TitleTeideal Year(s) or rangeBliain nó blianta nó raon TypeCineál All Legislation Acts Statutory Instruments Advanced SearchCuardach Casta HomeBaile ActsAchtanna 1947 Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Act, 1947 Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Act, 1947 Permanent Page URL View by SectionAmharc de réir Ailt View Full ActAmharc ar an Acht Iomlán Bill History Stair Bille Commencement, Amendments, SIs made under the Act Tosach Feidhme, Leasuithe, IRí arna ndéanamh faoin Acht Print Full ActPriontáil an tAcht Iomlán Number 8 of 1947.

WIDOWS' AND ORPHANS' PENSIONS ACT, 1947.

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

PART I.

Preliminary and General.

Section

Section 1

Short title and collective citation.

Section 2

Interpretation.

Section 3

Commencement of Part II.

PART II.

Re-enactment, with modification, of the Emergency Powers (No. 382) Order, 1946.

Section 4

Provisions in relation to certain persons employed in excepted employments to which the Principal Act applies, who ceased to be so employed.

Section 5

Amendment of section 5 of the Principal Act.

Section 6

Insurance under the Pensions Acts of certain members of the Reserve Force.

Section 7

Provisions in relation to certain persons absent from the State.

PART III.

Amendment of section 42 of the Principal Act.

Section 8

Amendment of section 42 of the Principal Act.

Acts Referred to Defence Forces (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1923 No. 30 of 1923 Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Act, 1935 No. 29 of 1935 Number 8 of 1947.

WIDOWS' AND ORPHANS' PENSIONS ACT, 1947.

AN ACT TO RE-ENACT CERTAIN AMENDMENTS OF THE WIDOWS' AND ORPHANS' PENSIONS ACTS, 1935 TO 1940, AFFECTED BY THE EMERGENCY POWERS (No. 382) ORDER, 1946, AND OTHERWISE TO AMEND THE SAID ACTS. [31st March, 1947.] BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

Part I.

Preliminary and General.

Short title and collective citation.

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Act, 1947.

(2)The Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Acts, 1935 to 1940, and this Act may be cited together as the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Acts, 1935 to 1947.

Interpretation.

2.—(1) In this Act— the expression “contributory pension” means a pension being either— (a) a widow's (contributory) pension, or (b) an orphan's (contributory) pension; the expression “excepted employment to which the Principal Act applies” shall be construed as having the same meaning as the expression “excepted employment to which this Act applies” has in the Principal Act; the expression “the Health Insurance Acts” means the National Health Insurance Acts, 1911 to 1947; the expression “member of the Reserve Force” means any person who is a member of the Reserve Force, that is to say, the reserve force established under

Part III

of the Defence Forces (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1923 (No. 30 of 1923), and includes any person commissioned as an officer of the Reserve Force and also a man of the Reserve Force who is called out on permanent service under the said Part III; the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Social Welfare; the expression “the operative (Part II) date” means the 14th day of June, 1946; the expression “the Pensions Acts” means the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Acts, 1935 to 1940; the expression “the Principal Act” means the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Act, 1935 (No. 29 of 1935); the expression “war pension” means any pension, award or allowance granted under any law for the time being in force in any country (other than the State) in respect of— (a) any war which commenced on or after the 3rd day of September, 1939, and before the operative (Part II) date, or (b) conditions attributable to any such war.

(2)References in this Act to any enactment shall be construed as references to that enactment as amended by any subsequent enactment.

(3)This Act shall be construed as one with the Pensions Acts.

Commencement of Part II.

3.—

Part II

of this Act shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 14th day of June, 1946.

PART II.

Re-enactment, with modification, of the Emergency Powers (No. 382) Order, 1946.

Provisions in relation to certain persons employed in excepted employments to which the Principal Act applies, who ceased to be so employed.

4.—Where, whether before, on or after the operative (Part II) date,— (a) a person was employed in an excepted employment to which the Principal Act applies, and (b) the employment of such person ceased to be an excepted employment to which the Principal Act applies by reason of its having become an employment which is, by virtue of paragraph (g) of Part II of the First Schedule to the National Insurance Act, 1911, an excepted employment within the meaning of the said last-mentioned Act, and (c) such person had been at the date of such cesser employed for not less than two hundred and eight weeks in an excepted employment to which the Principal Act applies and not less than two hundred and eight contributions under the Pensions Acts had at the said date been paid by or in respect of such person, and (d) after the date of such cesser sums, purporting to be contributions under the Pensions Acts, were paid by or in respect of such person in the belief that he continued to be employed in an excepted employment to which the Principal Act applies, the following provisions shall have effect— (i) the said sums shall be deemed to be contributions properly payable under the Pensions Acts; (ii) such person shall, during periods in respect of which the said sums were paid, be deemed to have been a person employed in an excepted employment to which the Principal Act applies; (iii) subsection (2) of section 5 and subsection (1) of section 71 of the Principal Act shall apply to him as if during the periods in respect of which the said sums were paid he had been employed in an excepted employment to which the Principal Act applies.

Amendment of section 5 of the Principal Act.

5.—Subsection (2) of section 5 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution of the words “eighteen months” for the words “twelve months” wherever the latter words occur therein.

Insurance under the Pensions Acts of certain members of the Reserve Force.

6.—Every member of the Reserve Force— (a) who, on or after the 1st day of September, 1939, is or has been called out for a period of service (other than training) and (b) who is or was at the time of such calling out, a person employed in an excepted employment to which the Principal Act applies, shall, during the first three months of such period of service, be and be deemed always to have been an insured person for the purposes of the Pensions Acts, and contributions in respect of such member under the Pensions Acts shall be payable by the Minister for Defence accordingly.

Provisions in relation to certain persons absent from the State.

7.—(1) (a) In this section, the expression “the appointed period” means the period which commenced on the 3rd day of September, 1939, and will end on the date which is fixed, under paragraph (b) of this subsection, as the closing date for the purposes of this paragraph. (b) The Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may by order fix a date as the closing date for the purposes of paragraph (a) of this subsection.

(2)This section applies to a person— (a) who has (whether before, on or after the operative (Part II) date) left the State during the appointed period, and (b) who was at the date of his departure an insured person under both the Health Insurance Acts and the Pensions Acts, otherwise than as a voluntary contributor, and (c) in respect of whom the following conditions are, at the date of his departure, complied with— (i) that fifty-two weeks have elapsed since the date of his last entry into insurance, and (ii) that fifty-two contributions under the Pensions Acts have been paid by or in respect of him since the date of his last entry into insurance, and (d) who (whether before, on or after the operative (Part II) date) dies or returns to the State before the expiration of the appointed period.

(3)The following provisions shall have effect in relation to a person to whom this section applies— (a) for the purposes of the Pensions Acts, but not further or otherwise, no account shall, in calculating the period of eighteen months mentioned in subsection (1) of section 13 of the National Health Insurance Act, 1918, as amended by section 4 of the National Health Insurance Act, 1947 , be taken of any period of his absence from the State during the appointed period, (b) the statutory conditions mentioned in paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section 13 of the Principal Act shall be deemed to have been complied with if the number of contributions under the Pensions Acts paid or deemed in accordance with regulations made under the Principal Act to have been paid by or in respect of him during the period of one hundred and fifty-six weeks (excluding, in calculating that period, any week falling within the appointed period during the whole or any part of which he was absent from the State) terminating at the end of the contribution year immediately before, in case he died under the age of seventy years, his death or, in any other case, his attainment of the age of seventy years, amounts in the aggregate to not less than seventy-eight contributions calculated in the manner prescribed by regulations made under the Principal Act in respect of the said period of one hundred and fifty-six weeks.

(4)This section shall not operate to make a contributory pension payable on account of the insurance of any person in respect of whose death a pension is granted under any scheme of pensions in force in an appointed country or a war pension is granted.

(5)Where reciprocal arrangements have been made with another country under section 61 of the Principal Act, this section shall cease to apply in relation to any period of absence of an insured person in that country after the date on which the said reciprocal arrangements come into operation.

(6)Where— (a) an application for a contributory pension was refused by a decision of a deciding officer before the operative (Part II) date, and (b) such pension could have been granted if the preceding provisions of this section had been then in force, the following provisions shall have effect— (i) a deciding officer may, notwithstanding anything in the Principal Act, revise such decision, and the provisions of the Principal Act as to reference shall apply to such revised decision in the same manner as they apply as respects an original award or decision, (ii) if such pension is granted it shall commence to accrue on the operative (Part II) date.

(7)Where— (a) a person to whom this section applies died before the operative (Part II) date, and (b) no claim to a contributory pension in respect of his insurance was made before the operative (Part II) date, the date of entitlement for the purposes of subparagraph (i) of paragraph (e) of subsection (1) of section 35 of the Principal Act shall be deemed to be the operative (Part II) date.

PART III.

Amendment of section 42 of the Principal Act.

8.—Subsection (3) of section 42 of the Principal Act is hereby amended (with effect as from the date of the passing thereof) by the insertion after the words “trust funds” of the words “or in the purchase of any other stock, shares or security in which trustees are for the time being authorised by law to invest trust funds”.

Privacy Statement Accessibility European Legislation Identifier (PDF) Open Data License Ráiteas Príobháideachais Inrochtaineacht Aitheantóir Eorpach Reachtaíochta (ELI) Ceadúnas Sonraí Oscailte Liosta Fianán © Government of Ireland. Oireachtas Copyright Material is reproduced with the permission of the Houses of the Oireachtas © Rialtas na hÉireann. Atáirgtear ábhar faoi Chóipcheart le cead ó Thithe an Oireachtais

AI explanation based on the official legal text. Indicative, not a substitute for legal advice.