§ Mr. LYNCHasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that Mrs. Kate Connell, Cloonlaheen East, Miltown Malbay, West Clare (No. 4, 423/748), was allowed a pension (No. 4328/748), to date from 1st January, 1909, but that the pension officer raised a question as to the age of the applicant, with regard to which the pension committee on 14th September, 1909, decided in favour of the applicant; that the pension officer appealed to the Local Government Board, which decided on 1st February, 1910, that pensioner had not attained the age of seventy years; and whether, in view of the consideration that the pension committee devoted to the matter on this point, he will consider Mrs. Connell entitled to the pension and that a reconsideration on the part of the Local Government Board is called for?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEAs I informed the hon. Member on the 21st ultimo, I am aware of the facts of this case. I have no power to alter or review the decision arrived at by the Local Government Board on appeal that the pensioner had not attained the statutory age of seventy.
§ Mr. KEATINGasked an explanation of the delay which has occurred in the payment of the salaries and fees due to the clerks of the pension sub-committees in county Kilkenny for the quarter ended 31st December last, payment for this quarter not having yet been made to them; and whether in future such payments will be made within a month of the end of the quarter?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe delay in the payments under reference is consequent1366W on the non-receipt of replies to certain queries addressed to the clerk to the pension committee for county Kilkenny. No undue delay occurs in the examination of accounts, but the date of payment depends upon (1) the date of receipt (which in this case was more than a month after the close of the quarter), and (2) the degree of accuracy with which the account is rendered. No general rule such as is suggested can therefore be laid down.
§ Mr. BRUNSKILLasked why Mary M'Quaid, of Relagh, Kilskeery, county Tyrone, was, in July last, deprived of the pension granted to her in January, 1909?
§ Mr. BIRRELLNo appeal appears to have been lodged with the Local Government Board in this case, and I have therefore no information with regard to it.
§ Mr. THOMAS O'DONNELLasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Local Government Board for Ireland construed the circular issued to pension officers, directing them to appeal in all cases where documentary evidence of age was not produced, as a direction also to them to disallow pensions in all such cases; and whether he will state in how many such appeals have pensions been allowed by the Local Government Board?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Local Government Board never received or heard of this circular until quite recently, and have not allowed it to influence them in any way whatever. The Board have allowed pensions in a very large number of cases, in which documentary evidence of age was not produced. They cannot give the exact figures, as no separate record is kept of such cases.
§ Mr. O'SULLIVANasked what inquiries were made by the Local Government Board before they decided that the income of Matthew Lenihan, of Knocknaboul, Scaroglin, pension committee, county Kenny, was over £31 10s.; whether he has for himself and his wife only £8 a year, and a room in his son's house; what value does the Local Government Board place on the maintenance of such a man living on a small farm in a poor district; and whether, in London, pension committees consider 7s. a week as the maximum which would be put on such maintenance?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Local Government Board, when coming to their decision in 1367W this case, had before them the acreage, valuation, and rent, of the holding on which the claimant lives, with a summary of the stock and crops, and a Report as to the general circumstances of the household. It is true that by the terms of the agreement made with his son the claimant reserved £8 a year and a free room, with some other privileges, but the Board were satisfied that the benefits he derives from living on the farm, which contains fifty acres and carries ten cows and numerous other stock, were worth more than £31 10s. a year. I have no information with regard to the matter referred to in the last paragraph of the question, but there can be no comparison between claimants for pensions living on farms in Ireland and similar persons living in London.
§ Mr. SCANLANasked the Chief Secretary if he will state why Michael Farrell, Brockagh, Dromard, has been refused a pension by the Local Government Board; whether he is aware that this man's pension was granted by the Skreen sub-committee of county Sligo in 1909, and that the Local Government Board then decided that Farrell would not be entitled to a pension until January, 1910; and whether he can explain why instructions have not been given to pay this man his pension since January last?
§ Mr. BIRRELLBy their decision of 13th January, 1909, the Local Government Board upheld the pension officer's appeal on the ground that the claimant had not then reached the statutory age. No such decision as that stated in the second part of the question was given by the Board.
§ Mr. SCANLANasked on what evidence the Local Government Board withdrew the pensions of Ellen Cawley, Magheraboy, Sligo, Catherine Scanlan, Ropewalk, Sligo, Mary Rooney, Holborn Street, Sligo, Terence Scanlan, Ropewalk, Sligo, Thomas Leonard, John Street, Sligo, and James Corcoran, Holborn Street, Sligo; on whose appeal the Local Government Board considered the claims of these parties; what communication relative to the discontinuance of their pensions was sent to the Sligo local pension committee; and who were the members of the Local Government Board who considered and decided on these appeals?
§ Mr. BIRRELLIn all these cases, except that of Mary Rooney, the pensioner's name was not found in the Census Returns1368W of 1841, although the parents' family was traced. Ellen Cawley was recorded as eight years old and Mary Rooney as nine years old in the Census Returns of 1851. The other evidence furnished by the pensioners in response to inquiries made by the Board was not sufficient to show that they had reached the statutory age. The appeals in all these cases were made by the pension officer, and the procedure required by the Act and regulations was duly carried out. The Vice-President of the Board is responsible for the decisions of the Board in all the cases mentioned in the question.
§ Mr. O'SHAUGHNESSYasked the Chief Secretary if he is aware that Maurice Kenneally, of Duncaha, Shanagolden, in the county of Limerick, was recommended for a pension of 5s. a week by the local subcommittee; that he has no visible means of support but is living on the bounty of his brother; that his baptismal certificate proved he was seventy years of age last January; and whether he can say on what grounds the Local Government Board on the appeal of the pension officer decided that he was not entitled to the pension?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe pension officer appealed against the local sub-committee's decision allowing a pension of 5s. a week on the grounds that the claimant's maintenance on his brother's farm was worth more than £31 10s. a year, and the Local Government Board upheld the appeal. The farm contains fifty-six Irish acres of good land carrying seventeen cows, and is otherwise well stocked and cropped. The claimant's age was satisfactorily proved.
§ Mr. O'SHAUGHNESSYasked on what ground the Local Government Board, on the appeal of the pension officer from the decision of the local sub-committee, refused the old age pension to Kate Lane, of Newcastle West, in the county of Limerick?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Local Government Board upheld the appeal of the pension officer, as it was not proved that this claimant had reached the statutory age.
§ Mr. O'SHAUGHNESSYasked the Chief Secretary if he is aware that Michael Moore, of Glensharrold, in the county of Limerick, was awarded a pension of 5s. a week by the Glin pension sub-committee and the pension officer; that he was in receipt of this pension for a year, and until another pension officer questioned his right to the pension on the ground that he was 1369W not seventy years of age; that the sub-committeee, reviewing his case, maintained that he was from the fact that his sister's baptismal certificate (who is two years older) proves that she is 74 years; and whether, having regard to the fact that his name is not on the Census records or in the parish register where he was baptised (it going back only 68 years), he will state on what grounds the Local Government Board on appeal deprived him of the pension?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe right of this man to pension was questioned by the pension officer, who appealed to the Local Government Board against the decision of the local committee. It was sought to prove the claimant's age by reference to that of his sister, but the Board were unable to obtain any conclusive evidence as to the interval in age between them. The pensioner's age was recorded as nine years in the Census Returns of 1851, and the Board were not satisfied that he had reached the age of seventy years.
§ Mr. KELLYasked the Chief Secretary whether Hugh Curran, of Carrigans, Londonderry, was informed on 14th March, 1910, that the decision of the Local Government Board for Ireland on questions raised on appeal to them by the pension officer was that he had attained the age of seventy years on 1st February, 1910; and, if so, whether he can state the grounds on which Hugh Curran has since been deprived of his pension?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe decision of the Local Government Board is correctly stated in the question. (The case has not since come before them, and I have therefore no information with regard to the concluding portion of the question.
§ Mr. KELLYasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that the local pension officer objected, in October, 1909, to the continuance of a pension to Mary M'Daid, of Letterkenny, county Donegal; that the local committee overruled the objection, and that the pension officer appealed to the Local Government Board; will he say whether, on this appeal, the Local Government Board decided that Mary M'Daid was seventy years of age on 8th August, 1909; and, if so, on what grounds and on whose instructions she has since been deprived of her pension?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Local Government Board decided, on appeal, that Mary M'Daid had attained the age of seventy1370W years on 5th August, 1909. They are not aware that she has since been deprived of her pension.