§ 28. Mr. JOYCEasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether his attention has been called to the fact that the fees allowed to sheriffs as returning officers under the Representation of the People Act in Ireland are inadequate to meet the expense; whether it is a fact that the Sheriff in Limerick City has to send away to absent voters 1,577 ballot papers, identity forms, and three addressed envelopes, and that the amount allowed him for all this is the sum of £3; and whether, seeing that sheriffs and sub-sheriffs will have to pay out of their own pockets sums of money greater than they are allowed by the Act, consideration will be given to any reasonable claim made by them in the carrying out of this Act of Parliament?
§ Mr. BALDWIN (Joint Financial Secretary to the Treasury)I have been asked to answer this question. The hon. Member is misinformed as to the amount of fees to be allowed to returning officers in Ireland under the Treasury scale, which will be published shortly. On the figures given by the hon. Member, the Sheriff of Limerick would receive for the work in connection with absent voters not £3 as stated but £30 for remuneration and expense. I see no reason to consider the scale inadequate.