§ Mr. MEAGHERasked the Chief Secretary if, in view of the fact that a number of old age pension income cases are being decided by the pension committee of appeal, he will say whether members of the staff of the committee in question have had any practical experience of farming in Ireland; and, if so, to what extent a qualification of this kind is held to be necessary where the interests of so many poor people are concerned?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe answer is in the affirmative. The Local Government Board and the Committee of Appeal have on their staff persons who have had a large practical experience in farming, and they find a qualification of this kind is most useful.
§ Mr. O'SHAUGHNESSYasked how the Local Government Board estimated the income of Miss Ellen M'Carthy, of Cahirhayes, Abbeyfeale, in the county of Limerick, number in pension officer's register A 39, to be more than would entitle her to a pension, having regard to 2634W the fact that the local sub-committee awarded her a pension of 5s. a week?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Local Government Board inform me that this claimant derives an income from moneys invested in shares and on deposit in the Post Office Savings Bank. She has also a sum on deposit in the local bank which, in the opinion of the Board, might have been expected to bring her means beyond the statutory limit. The Board therefore disallowed her claim, in accordance with Section 4 (1) (c) of the Old Age Pensions Act.
§ Mr. O'SHAUGHNESSYasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that a man named Cornelius Curtin, of Knockfierna, Ballingarry, in the county of Limerick (Adare district), was granted the old age pension by the local committee on the recommendation of two men aged about eighty years; that he was in receipt of 5s. per week for over one year; and that, on the appeal of the pension officer, the Local Government Board deprived him of the pension as he was not on the Census Returns; and can he state when the Local Government Board will declare him to be eligible for the pension, he having no further proof to give of his age beyond that of the two men who declared him to be over seventy years?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Local Government Board inform me that Curtin was unable to produce any evidence that he had attained the statutory age beyond the unsupported expressions of opinion by the two old men referred to. In the absence of satisfactory evidence of age it does not fall within the province of the Board to express an opinion as to when a claimant will attain the statutory age.
§ Mr. SCANLANasked the Chief Secretary why James M'Ghee, Dooneal, Dromore West, county Sligo, and his wife have been deprived of the pensions under the Old Age Pensions Act which they received until May, 1910; and whether he will state the particulars on which the Local Government Board based their decision?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Local Government Board inform me that on a question raised by the pension officer the sub-committee in October last cancelled M'Ghee's pension on the ground that his means exceeded the statutory limit. A fresh claim lodged by M'Ghee in January last was also disallowed by the sub-committee, and this 2635W decision was confirmed by the Board on an appeal by the claimant. In coming to their decision the Board considered the value of the stock and crops on the claimant's farm and the interest which he had in another holding. No appeal appears to have come before the Board in the case of Mrs. M'Ghee.
§ Mr. FRANCIS MEEHANasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that Ellen Havey, of Ballysooragh, Letterbreen, county Fermanagh, who was in receipt of an old age pension of 4s. per week for a year, was on appeal disqualified on the ground that her name could not be found in the Census of 1841 or 1851; and whether, having regard to the fact that she was born in England and cannot trace her place of birth, and that she produced her marriage certificate, which proves that she is now seventy-one years of age, the Local Government Board would reconsider her claim?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe hon. Member appears to be misinformed in this case. The Local Government Board inform me that in November last the pension committee cancelled Mrs. Havey's pension as she was only three years old when the Census of 1851 was taken. Mrs. Havey appealed, but produced no marriage certificate or any satisfactory evidence that she had attained the statutory age. The Board, therefore, confirmed the decision of the committee.
§ Mr. KEATINGasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the dissatisfaction in Ireland at the manner in which the incomes of small farmer pension claimants are estimated, he intends to include in the amending Old Age Pensions Bill any provisions giving jurisdiction to the county court for each district before which applicants can appear personally to determine appeals in such cases; whether in the contemplated charging of local rates with the cost of poor relief to paupers who will on 1st January next become entitled to pensions, it is intended to have a quarterly revision of the amount assessed on each area in order to strike off any portion thereof representing ex-pauper pensioners who have died in the meantime; if so, whether such revision will include allowances for the interval between any such death and the next ensuing such revision and also for the general prolongation of life among pensioners by reason of the improved standard of living made possible by the 2636W pension; whether he is aware that the cost to Irish local rates of the proposed alteration of the terms of the existing Act has been estimated as at least £120,000 per annum; and what is the official estimate of such cost?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEThe answer to the first question is in the negative. As regards the contribution by the guardians, it is intended that this should be a gradually diminishing contribution as the persons for whose maintenance the guardians are now responsible die off. I am not, however, yet in a position to give details. The amount of the charge of which Irish ratepayers will be relieved by the transfer of paupers to the pension list is estimated at about £130,000, and the amount of the contribution will certainly not, exceed, and will probably be less than, this sum.