§ Mr. FRANCIS MEEHANasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that Francis Mooney, of Loughross, Glenfarne, county Leitrim, No. 33 R, was, on the evidence of Thomas M'Govern, J. P., who is an auctioneer and valuer, awarded a pension of 5s. per week by the Manorhamilton Sub-committee, which was, on appeal by the pension officer, reduced to 2s. per week; whether he will state on what grounds the pension officer based his calculation of Mooney's yearly income; and whether, having regard to the fact that Mooney is a poor man, further inquiry will be made into this case with a view of granting the full pension?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe papers in this case are not now in the possession of the Local Government Board, who cannot, therefore, state definitely the grounds on which the Sub-committee and the pension officer arrived at their different conclusions. The Board, after obtaining a report from one of their inspectors who had visited and questioned Mooney, confirmed the pension officer's recommendation that two shillings a week be allowed. Mooney has a farm of thirty acres, on which there are three cows, a heifer, and other stock, and his means appeared to be about £27 per annum. The Board have no power to re-open the case.
§ Mr. FRANCIS MEEHANasked the Chief Secretary whether he will direct that further inquiries be made as to the age of Pat Regan, of Whiterock, Manorhamilton, No. 96 R, who was in receipt of outdoor relief, and was refused an old age pension on the ground that he was not the statutory age according to the Census of 1851; and whether, owing to the fact that his name appears on the relieving officer's books as being seventy-four years of age, and that he produced sworn evidence from Allan Nixon, who has been rate collector in the district since 1851, testifying that Regan was over fourteen years of age in 1851, he would be granted a pension?
§ Mr. BIRRELLRegan's age was recorded as seven years in the Census return of 1851, from which it would appear that he is now only about sixty-seven years old. The entries in relieving officers' books cannot be accepted as proof of age, and Allan Nixon's statement could not be taken in preference to the evidence of the Census return, and no other satisfactory evidence was produced. It is not open to the Board to reconsider their decision.
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§ Mr. SHEEHANasked the Chief Secretary whether the claim of John Lehane, Knocknaloman, Rathmore, was considered by the Millstreet sub-committee on the 1st December, 1909, and passed by them; whether an appeal was lodged by the pension officer and the claim disallowed by the Local Government Board, and what was the cause then assigned; did Lehane apply again in January of this year, and did he produce a duly-signed baptismal certificate to show that he is seventy-four years of age; was his claim once more allowed on the 2nd February, 1911, by the sub-committee, the pension officer remarking that he did not know why Lehane was kept out of his pension from the start; has Lehane again received notice of an appeal, notice No. 1887, stating that the ground of objection is that he has not resided in the United Kingdom for the whole of the last twenty years; and, seeing that Lehane has been domiciled all his life in Ireland, that he reared a large family there, that even whilst in America, earning means of support for his family, he maintained and supported them in his old home and paid the rent and rates, therefore keeping his present residence intact all this time, will he recommend that he be now granted a pension without any unnecessary delay?
§ Mr. BIRRELLJohn Lehane was awarded a pension by the sub-committee on the 2nd December, 1909, but the pension officer appealed on the ground that the claimant did not fulfil the statutory condition as to residence, and the Local Government Board disallowed the claim. A fresh claim is at present before the Board on appeal, and the pension officer reports that Lehane states that he has been only eleven years home from America. If it be the fact that the claimant was thus absent from the United Kingdom for more than eight years out of the past twenty, it would appear that, under Section 2 (2) of the Old Age Pensions Act of 1908 and Article 29 (a) (III.) of the Regulations of 1908, he is not entitled to any pension no matter what connection he may have kept up with Ireland during his absence.