§ Mr. O'SHAUGHNESSYasked the Chief Secretary whether he was aware that David O'Neill, of Askeaton, in the county of Limerick, was granted an old age pension by the local pension committee after the Poor Law disqualification was removed on his producing statements from three respectable men in the locality, one of them over eighty years, that he was over seventy years; but as his family was traced in the Census returns, and he not being in it, the pension officer rejected his case; whether, as it was not possible for this man to get any further proof of age, the pension committee would be allowed discretionary power of giving the pension in this and similar cases?
§ Mr. BIRRELLDavid O'Neill's claim was disallowed by the Local Government 1798 Board on appeal, as the statements referred to were not sufficient in their opinion to show that he was seventy years old. The Board have no power to allow the pension committee a discretion in such cases.
§ Mr. O'SHAUGHNESSYWhat business then has the pensions committee there at all? Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that there is a growing feeling amongst the members of the pensions committee that they will not stand this any longer?
§ Mr. BIRRELLWe must wait until that feeling grows a little more.
§ Mr. O'SHAUGHNESSYasked the Chief Secretary if he could say what evidence the Local Government Board required to allow an old age pension in a case like that of Mrs. Anne Madigan, of Foynes, in the county of Limerick, which they disallowed, but which the local pension committee allowed on her producing statements from a local justice of the peace who knew her for fifty years, together with the statements of other old respectable inhabitants in the district, that she was over seventy years, although her name was not on the Census returns; and whether, if these statements were made by statutory declaration, it would alter the decision of the Local Government Board?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Local Government Board cannot state in general terms what evidence apart from direct documentary evidence is sufficient to show that a claimant has reached the age of seventy years. Each case is considered on its merits. There was nothing in the evidence submitted in connection with Anne Madigan's claim to show that she was seventy years old. The magistrate in question did not say that he knew claimant for fifty years, but merely that he had known her many years, and that her father had been in his family's employment some fifty years ago. This statement would not be any more effective if made in the form of a statutory declaration.
§ Mr. O'SHAUGHNESSYDoes the statement of a magistrate count for nothing?
§ Mr. BIRRELLIt counts for a good deal, but it does not count for enough.
§ Mr. O'SHAUGHNESSYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Mrs. Catherine Sheehy, of Foynes, was granted 1799 an old age pension by the Askeaton pension committee on her producing statements from four old and respectable residents in the locality, one of them being a justice of the peace for the county, that she was seventy years, but notwithstanding the Local Government Board, on the appeal of the pension officer, rejected her case on the ground of no evidence of age; and whether, as this old woman is clearly from her appearance considerably over seventy years, the Local Government Board will, before they reject such cases as this, make some inquiry into the ages of applicants?
§ Mr. BIRRELLIt is the invariable practice of the Local Government Board before deciding a claim to communicate with claimants with a view to obtaining whatever evidence they can offer in support of their claims. In the case of Mrs. Sheehy the statements referred to were not submitted to the Board, the only evidence furnished being a statement by a clergyman that he believed the claimant to be over seventy years of age.