§ Mr. O'SHEEasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that the Dungarvan 2240W board of guardians propose to make a special contract to board and lodge, in a portion of the building constituting the workhouse, for 4s. per week over seventy old men and women who are entitled to old age pensions; whether the Local Government Board will sanction the action of the guardians on condition that the quarters assigned to the old age pensioners are not to be considered as a portion of the workhouse and that the board and maintenance are not to be considered as given to the pensioners as inmates but as a matter of contract between these old persons and the guardians; whether he will see that no question is raised as to the right of these persons to receive pensions by reason of the fact that they reside in a portion of the workhouse building; and whether this system has already been adopted by other boards of guardians in Ireland with the sanction of the Local Government Board?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Dungarvan board of guardians had under consideration a proposal of the nature indicated in the question, but, as I have already pointed out, under the Old Age Pensions Act, 1908, maintenance in a workhouse or receipt of Poor Law relief, other than that specially excepted in the provisos to Section 3. (1) (a) of the Act, ipso facto disqualifies a pensioner from receiving his pension. The reply to the last paragraph of the question is in the negative.