§ Mr. DANIEL BOYLEasked the Chief Secretary if his attention bad been directed to the cases of Patrick M'Grath, Bridget Meehan, Thomas Healey, Bridget Healey, and Thomas M'Garry, all old age pensioners in the Knocknalower district of county Mayo, whose rights to pensions were questioned and objected to by the local pension officer, after they had been in receipt of pensions for some time, on the sole ground that the names of the said pensioners were not to be found in the Census Returns of 1841 or 1851; whether he is aware that these old persons were put to the trouble and expense of having special search made in the Census Returns, which disclosed that the persons named were entered on the 1841 Census Return, and were then aged six, four, nine, nine, and six years respectively; whether he will discountenance such attempts by pension officers to deprive respectable and properly qualified old persons of their pensions on unsubstantial and negative objections; and whether in these cases he will direct that these parties shall have repaid to them the outlay to which they have been put?
§ Mr. BIRRELLIn these cases the pension officer raised the question that there was no evidence of age, but the Local Government Board dismissed his appeals on the ground that they were not lodged in time. As regards the last paragraph of the question, I would point out that the pension officers are not under my control.
§ Mr. KELLYasked the circumstances under which the pensions officer at Stranorlar, county Donegal, objected to the continuance of an Old Age Pension to Mrs. Alice Kelly, of Meenahinnish, Killygordon, county Donegal; whether he was satisfied as to the age of Mrs. Kelly at the time the pension was first granted; and whether any, and, if so, what, evidence was subsequently forthcoming to justify the Local Government Board in depriving Mrs. Kelly of her pension?
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§ Mr. BIRRELLThe hon. Member is under misapprehension in supposing that Mrs. Kelly's pension was withdrawn by the Local Government Board. The case never came before the Board, as there has been no appeal, and I am not therefore in position to give any information with regard to it.
§ Mr. KELLYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state the circumstances under which Thomas M'Philamey, of Ballyhogan, Lifford, county Donegal, was deprived of his pension; whether he is aware that the pension was unanimously granted in this case by the Strabane (No. 2) pension committee, and that the committee were satisfied by the testimony and appearance of the applicant, and by independent local testimony as to his age; and what action lie proposes to take?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe pension in this case was discontinued as the result of question raised by the pension officer on the ground that the claimant's age was recorded in the Census Return of 1841 as being only three months. The Local Government Board are not aware of the circumstances in which the claim was passed by the local pension committee, but the evidence submitted to the Board did not satisfy them that the age recorded in the Census Return was inaccurate. It is open to the applicant to make fresh claim if he considers that he has now sufficient evidence to prove that he has attained the statutory age.
§ Mr. KELLYasked the circumstances under which Margaret Mooney, of Little Bridge, Ramelton, county Donegal, has recently been deprived of her pension; whether he is aware that in November, 1909, objection was made by the local pension officer to the continuance of this pension and that he appealed to the Local Government Board against such, continuance, and that the Local Government Board were then satisfied that Margaret Mooney was rightfully entitled to her pension; whether the evidence that Margaret Mooney was of full age in 1861 according to the parochial record of marriages kept in the church at Ramelton is not sufficient; and whether there is any limit to the number of appeals that may be brought by pension officer against the continuance of the same pension?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe hon. Member is mistaken in supposing that the Local Government Board were satisfied that182W Margaret Mooney was entitled to pension. Her marriage certificate represents that she was of full age when married, but the Board considered that as her age was given in the Census Return of 1841 as being only two months the earlier record was more likely to be correct, and they accordingly upheld the pension officer's appeal on the ground that Mrs. Mooney had not proved that she had attained the statutory age. A pension officer may raise question whenever he finds that one of the statutory conditions is not or has ceased to be fulfilled.