§ Mr. LUNDONasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland will he take steps to prevent the Local Government Board from ignoring the old age pensions committees in Ireland; is he aware that many of the latter bodies are about to resign unless some change takes place; and if he will explain why the representations of the local men, who are judges as to the age, etc., of applicants are, in nearly all cases, disregarded, and the word of an official, who, in many cases comes from Wales and England, adhered to?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Local Government Board do not ignore old age pension committees in Ireland, but give the fullest consideration to their representations regarding every claim. When, however, a 2485W pension officer or claimant for a pension appeals to the Board against the decision of a Committee it is obvious that Parliament intended that the Board should give the matter independent consideration, and should not defer to the opinion of the Committee in every case in which their decision was appealed against. The Board are not aware that many of the pension committees contemplate resignation.
§ Mr. O'SHAUGHNESSYasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he can say why the masters of some workhouses, such as Bantry and Kilrush, are allowed to collect pensions from old age pensioner inmates of these institutions and lodge the amounts to the credit of the union funds, as maintenance cost of such inmates, while the master of the Rathkeale workhouse is not permitted to do so by the pension officer of the district; and whether different regulations under the Old Age Pension Act apply in different unions; if not, will the master of the Rathkeale workhouse in future be allowed to collect the pensions from the pensioner inmates?
§ Mr. BIRRELLFurther particulars of the circumstances in each of the cases mentioned would be required before an explanation of the apparent anomaly could be given. The Old Age Pensions Regulations of 1911 apply to every union in Ireland. The question of administration of the Old Age Pensions Acts by pension officers is one for my hon. Friend the Secretary to the Treasury, to whom I would refer the hon. Member.
§ Mr. DANIEL BOYLEasked if the Local Government Board will reconsider the disallowance of an old age pension in the case of Mrs. Ellen Munnelly, of Carrowgarve, Crossmolina, county Mayo, in view of the evidence she is able to produce that her age, as given in the 1851 Census records, is inaccurate and that she has passed the statutory age?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThis case does not appear to have come before the Local Government Board. In any event, if the claimant is now able to show that she has reached the statutory age it is open to her to make a claim.
§ Mr. DANIEL BOYLEasked the Chief Secretary why the claim of Thomas Padden, Deveane, Clogher, Belmullet, county Mayo, to an old age pension has been declined, seeing that the Census records of 1841 and 1851 afford no information respecting him, and in view of the 2486W evidence of old persons that Padden has passed his seventy-third year; and, in view of the absence of official records, if he will say how long Padden must live before he can qualify for a pension?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe claimant was not found in the list of his parents' family in the 1841 Census Return, from which it would appear that he was not born at that date. No other satisfactory evidence of age being produced the Local Government Board disallowed the claim on the ground that Padden had failed to show that he had attained the statutory age. The Board are not called upon to state when Padden will be entitled to a pension, as the onus of supplying evidence that he is over seventy years old rests upon him.
§ Mr. DANIEL BOYLEasked why the claim of John Kennedy, Gornagran, Moygownagh, county Mayo, to an old age pension has been disallowed; and if he is aware that several persons who have known Kennedy from childhood, and who are themselves admittedly over seventy years of age, are prepared to swear that Kennedy is more than seventy years?
§ Mr. BIRRELLJohn Kennedy's claim was disallowed for want of satisfactory evidence that he had reached the statutory age. In reply to the request of the Local Government Board for evidence as to his age, Kennedy furnished statements of belief by three men of unspecified ages, who claimed that they had known the claimant for over twenty-five years. Mere statements of belief, however, unsupported by evidence, are not sufficient to enable the Board to determine a person's age.
§ Mr. DANIEL BOYLEasked the Chief Secretary if he will state the grounds on which the Local Government Board have deprived George Irwin, Gore Street, Killala, county Mayo, of an old age pension to which he had been, admitted at the commencement of the Act; and whether he is aware that, in the opinion of some of the most respected residents of the district who have known Irwin all their lives, including the Right Reverend Monsignor O'Hara, P.P.V.F., Irwin has passed the statutory qualifying age?
§ Mr. BIRRELLGeorge Irwin's pension was discontinued by the Local Government Board as the result of a question raised by the pension officer that the pensioner was under the statutory age. 2487W According to the Census Return of 1841 his parents were only married in that year, and had no child at that time, while in 1851 George's age was recorded as being eight years. It would therefore appear that he is now about sixty-eight years of age.