HC Deb 25 April 1910 vol 17 cc9-10
Mr. O'DOWD

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that Mrs. Bridget Boland, of Woodhill, county Sligo, Tubbercurry sub-committee, was in receipt of a pension of 5s. per week ever since the Act came into operation up to 10th March last, when it was stopped on appeal by the local pension officer on the ground that she was not the required age; whether Mrs. Boland has put in a fresh claim, accompanied by a certificate from the deputy-keeper, Public Record Office, showing that the claimant was two years and two months in 1841; and, if so, whether she will now be placed on the list and the amount of which she was deprived be paid her?

The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Mr. Hobhouse)

I should be glad if the hon. Gentleman will postpone his question. I have not yet obtained the information he requires.

Mr. O'DOWD

As the House will shortly adjourn, I shall not have an opportunity of obtaining the information.

Mr. HOBHOUSE

I quite recognise that difficulty, but I cannot give the hon. Gentleman the facts. I will endeavour to do so as soon as I get the information from Ireland.

Mr. O'DOWD

Perhaps the right hon. Gentleman will communicate it to me?

Mr. HOBHOUSE

I will be very glad to do so.

Mr. O'DOWD

asked whether many old age pensioners in Ireland have been deprived of their pensions on appeals based on the Census Returns of 1841 and 1851; whether, on investigation at the Public Record Office, Dublin, these Returns have in many cases been found to be wholly erroneous, in consequence of which these pensions have been restored; and, if so, whether, seeing that under unreliable official returns these pensioners have been unjustly deprived of their pensions and compelled, in many cases under threat of prosecution, to refund sums properly their own, steps will be taken to have such sums repaid to them?

Mr. HOBHOUSE

A considerable number of pensions have been withdrawn on appeals based on the Census Returns. With reference to the second paragraph of the question, while acknowledging that discrepancies have been found in the Census Returns, I am not prepared to admit that they are on the whole unreliable as a test of age in the case of claimants under the Old Age Pensions Act. As a matter of fact, the Returns have been the only means of enabling a large number of persons to establish their right to pensions. If there are any cases in which pensions have been withdrawn upon the evidence of Census Returns which can can be shown to be incorrect, I shall be prepared to consider the suggestion made in the latter part of the question.