§ Mr. SCANLANasked the Chief Secretary if he will state upon what evidence the Local Government Board have disallowed the pension which was granted to Mrs. Ann Dunleary, of Lugdoon, Temple-boy, county Sligo, by the pension sub-committee, and which was paid to her from 1st February, 1909, till 24th February, 1910; upon whose appeal it was disallowed; whether he is aware of the fact that in this case the sub-committee, had submitted to them the birth certificate of applicant's second child, Anny Dunleary, whose age is forty-seven years; whether he is aware that the sub-committee had also reliable evidence of old people in the district to show that applicant was over seventy years of age; and whether he will direct that this woman's pension be continued and the arrears paid to her?
§ Mr. REDMOND BARRYIn this case the pension officer appealed on the ground of age, the pensioner being specifically recorded in the Census Returns of 1841 as only one month old in that year. The birth certificate referred to shows that Ann Dunleary would now be only forty-four years old. The other general evidence of age referred to could not outweigh the evidence afforded by the Census Returns in this case. There is no power to take the action suggested in the last paragraph of the question.
§ Mr. SCANLANasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware of the circumstances under which Edward Noble, of Lugdoon, Templeboy, county Sligo, was deprived of his pension by the Local Government Board on 24th February, 1910; whether he is aware that the applicant's marriage certificate, which was produced to the sub-committee, shows that he was married forty-four years ago, that the application was supported by the evidence 560W of the applicant, who swore he was twenty-eight years of age at the date of his marriage, by the evidence of Edward Williams, of Grangebeg, who is seventy-four years of age, who swore that the applicant was as old as himself, and by the evidence of Charles Kelly, since deceased at the age of eighty-four years, who stated to members of the sub-committee that the applicant was, to his knowledge, over seventy years; and whether he will order payment of this man's pension from the date of its discontinuance?
§ Mr. REDMOND BARRYAccording to the Census Returns of 1841 the pensioner's parents had no children at that time, and in the Returns of 1851 he appears as eight years old. The Local Government Board were unable to hold that the Census Records were disproved by the statements referred to in the question, and they therefore upheld the pension officer's appeal. There is no power to order the continuance of the pension.
§ Mr. SCANLANasked the Chief Secretary whether his attention has been called to the case of Mrs. Catherine Golden, Lugdoon, Templeboy, county Sligo, whose application for a pension was granted by the sub-committee but disallowed by the Local Government Board on 24th February, 1910; whether he is aware that the fact that the applicant was qualified on the score of age was testified to by P. Feehily, an old age pensioner, whose age was seventy-two years, and by another man whose age is well over seventy years; that it was also satisfactorily proved to the pension sub-committee that the applicant was married over fifty-one years ago, and that, in rejecting her claim, the Local Government Board set aside all this evidence and proceeded solely on the absence of an entry of the claimant's name from the Census Returns; and whether, in the whole circumstances, he will ask the Local Government Board to direct that payment shall forthwith be made to this woman of her pension?
§ Mr. REDMOND BARRYThe hon. Member is under a misapprehension in supposing that the Local Government Board acted in this case solely on the absence of the claimant's name from the Census Returns. Her parents' family was traced in the Census Records both of 1841 and 1851. In the former her name did not appear, and in the latter she was returned as nine years old. The only evidence as to her marriage was a certificate that her eldest child was baptised on 30th Novem- 561W ber, 1862. The Board have no power to give the direction suggested in the last paragraph of the question.