§ Mr. BOLANDasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether his attention has been called to the rejection by the Local Government Board of a claim to an old age pension by Mrs. Mary O'Sullivan, Peter Street, Knightstown, Valentia; whether he is aware that she is the daughter of her father's first wife, and that the Census Returns show that the eldest child by her father's second wife is seventy-one years of age; and whether, in view of the fact that Mrs. Sullivan is two years older than one who is conclusively proved to be seventy-one years of age, he will state on what grounds Mrs. Sullivan's claim has been rejected?
§ The CHIEF SECRETARY for IRELAND (Mr. Birrell)Mrs. O'Sullivan claims to have been about four years old at the time of her father's second marriage in 1840. The date of this marriage is confirmed by the Census Returns which also show the eldest child of that marriage was nine years old in 1851, and would be now 68. Mrs. O'Sullivan has produced no evidence in support of her statement that she is the daughter of her father's first wife, and the Local Government Board have disallowed her claim as there is nothing to show that she has attained the statutory age.