HC Deb 16 August 1895 vol 36 cc164-5
MR. F. MANDEVILLE (Tipperary, S.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland is he aware that, although the rating qualification for persons qualified to become Poor Law Guardians in Ireland was reduced from £24 per annum to £8 per annum, no change was made in the rating qualification of Members of Dispensary Committees, which is still fixed at £35 per annum in some Irish Poor Law Unions; does he know that great hardship and public inconvenience is caused in the poorer districts, where the holdings and the ratings are small, by this high rating qualification for members of Dispensary Committees; and will he take steps to have this inequality righted by lowering the rating qualification for members of Dispensary Committees from £35 per annum to £8 per annum, or to some such reasonable figure?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

I am aware that the rating qualification of Poor Law Guardians in Ireland has been reduced, as stated—the Local Government Board being empowered by an order under their seal to fix the qualification for this office. But the qualification of a resident ratepayer to act as a member of a Dispensary Committee is fixed by Statute at a minimum valuation of £30, and the Local Government Board have no power to vary the qualification for this latter office.