§ Mr. MacNEILLasked the Chief Secretary whether his attention has been directed to the case of Denis Mulhern, of Bachelor's Walk, Ballyshannon, who having been granted an old age pension by the pension committee, of which he has been deprived by the Local Government Board, is out of work, in bad health, and supported by the earnings of his wife, a laundress; whether he is aware that Mulhern, who was married 42 years ago, when he was 30 years of age, but whose name does not appear in the Census of 1841 or 1851, did not receive any reply from the Local Government Board to his communication inquiring the reason of the stoppage of his pension; and whether he, as official head of the Local Government Board, will institute inquiries into this case with a view to the relief of this man?
§ Mr. BIRRELLBefore adjudicating upon the appeal lodged by the pension officer in this case the Local Government Board afforded Denis Mulhern an opportunity of furnishing evidence proving that he had reached the statutory age of 70 years, but he failed to forward any. The Board, therefore, upheld the appeal. The claimant's request for information was replied to by the Board on the 15th instant.
§ Mr. MacNEILLasked the Chief Secretary whether he will make inquiries into the case of John Kelly, of Lackland, Ballintra, county Donegal, whose pension, allowed by the pension committee, has been stopped by the Local Government Board on the ground that he could not produce a certificate of his baptism, records of baptism not being found before 988W 1864 in the Catholic church of Ballintra, his birthplace, but who procured all available evidence as to the period of his birth and is able to remember his father, who died in 1846, for years before his death; and whether any steps can be taken for the restoration of his pension to this man?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Local Government Board did not, as alleged, disallow the pension in this case because the claimant could produce no baptismal certificate. The pension officer appealed on the ground that no evidence as to age had been produced, and when the Board communicated with the claimant he stated he was perfectly certain he was 70 years old. The only evidence he adduced, however, was a statement from the parish priest to the effect that he believed him to be over 70. The Board were unable to accept this as proof of the fulfilment of the statutory conditions.
§ Mr. HAZLETONasked the Chief Secretary if he will state, in cases where the Local Government Board has refused pensions to applicants on the appeal of a pension officer from a committee, what is the procedure for having such cases reconsidered?
§ Mr. BIRRELLSubject to the proviso set forth in Article 9 (1) (a) of the Old Age Pension Regulations, 1908, which have been presented to Parliament (H.C. Paper 304 of 1908), the claimant can make a fresh claim, which will be dealt with in the usual way.