§ MR. HEALYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If the Irish Local Government Board have refused to grant a sworn inquiry into the case of a
Protest against the maintenance and charge-ability of the illegitimate child of an Irish landlord and its mother, a married woman, upon the rates of Clogheen Union;and, if so, why; and, is it true that the woman is about being removed from the Union at this moment to evade inquiry?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTER, in reply, said, with regard to this poor woman no sworn inquiry could be made by the Local Government Board, because there was no suspicion attached to any official of the Union or to any person under the jurisdiction of the Local Government Board; and, though he was not speaking with any knowledge of the fact, he did not suppose there was any charge against the Guardians. The woman and her child were admitted into the workhouse. The Local Government Board directed the attention of the Guardians to the provisions of the Act, which enabled them in certain circumstances to recover the cost of the maintenance of the per- 1526 sons relieved by them if the name of the putative father was ascertained; but, the woman having refused to make the necessary affidavit, the Guardians were unable to proceed. The Local Government Board had, of course, no power outside their jurisdiction.