§ Mr. MOLLOYasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that on 24th September, 1909, the Carlow pension sub-committee granted Mary Fitzpatrick a pension of 5s. per week; that the pension officer appealed against the pension on the ground that claimant was not the statutory age, and the Local Government Board allowed the appeal; that, at a committee meeting held on 11th March, 1910, the pension officer reported that, on a further search, he found that in the Census Returns of 1851 the claimant was recorded as being then fourteen years old, and that she was therefore over seventy when the committee allowed the pension in the first instance; and whether the claimant will now be paid the amount wrongly withheld from her since 24th September, 1909?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Local Government Board upheld the appeal of the pension officer, as, at the time they investigated the case, the claimant was unable to furnish proof that she had attained the statutory age. The onus of proof rests upon claimants, and until Mrs. Fitzpatrick established her age satisfactorily no pension could properly be allowed. The proceedings before the pension committee on 11th March have not come before the Board, and and I have, therefore, no information with regard to the matters referred to in the concluding portion of the question.
§ Mr. MOLLOYasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that, on 11th December, 1908, the Carlow pension subcommittee granted John Carter a pension of 5s. per week, the first payment of which was made on 1st January, 1909; that on 21st November, 1909, a question was raised by the pension officer that Carter was not the statutory age, and that the committee, being satisfied that he was over seventy, continued the pension, which the Local Government Board, on appeal, disallowed; that Carter subsequently furnished the committee with an official certificate showing that he was enrolled as a pupil in Carlow-Grague National School in May, 1846, and that he was therein described as being seven years old last birthday; and whether, having regard to this certificate and the unanimous opinion of the committee that Carter was qualified by age for pension, he will ask the Local 1846W Government Board to reconsider their decision?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Local Government Board allowed the pension officer's question, as Carter's age was recorded in the Census Returns as being one year in 1841, and ten years in 1851; and, in accordance with their practice when a person is recorded as being one year old at the time when the Census of 1841 was taken, the Board decided that Carter would attain the statutory age on the 1st April, 1910. The extract from the school register was only produced after the case had been fully investigated and decided; and no fresh claim was made.