§ Mr. CREANasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the claim of Jeremiah Stapleton to an old age pension was, after full and careful inquiry, sanctioned by the Kinsale (No. 1) pension sub-committee, county Cork; that the Local Government Board, on the appeal of the pension agent, has decided that the claimant was not entitled to a pension on the ground that the claimant's wife was in receipt of poor relief; that the medical officer has certified that the relief granted was medical, and, as such, was no disqualification; and, if so, will this case be reconsidered?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Local Government Board upheld the appeal of the pension officer in this case on the ground that the claimant's wife had been in receipt of Poor Law relief. It appeared from a return furnished by the clerk of the Union that during a portion of last December the claimant's wife was an ordinary inmate of the workhouse, and he was, therefore, disqualified for receiving a pension. It is not open to the Board to reconsider their decision on the claim.
§ Mr. CREANIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the claimant was not in the workhouse, and that his wife was in the hospital?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe case, as I am told, is that the wife was an ordinary inmate of the workhouse, and, as the hon. Member knows, the disqualification of the wife attaches to the husband.
§ Mr. BIRRELLIf it can be shown she was not an ordinary inmate but only in the hospital for a short time, which is a well-known exception, the case ought certainly to be reconsidered.