§ Mr. SCANLANasked the Chief Secretary if he would state on what grounds the Local Government Board disallowed the old age pension awarded to Mrs. McGarrigle, of Derrylehan, Grange, by the Cliffony local pension committee, Sligo; whether the Board had any evidence before them other than that submitted to the local committee; if the Board sent an official to investigate the case; and whether he will state the name and status of that official?
§ Mr. REDMOND BARRYThe Local Government Board upheld the pension officer's appeal on the ground that Mrs. McGarrigle had not reached the statutory age. The papers are not now in the Board's possession, so that it cannot be stated what evidence was before the local pension committee. Before deciding the case the Board sent one of their permanent inspectors to report as to Mrs. McGarrigle's age. It is contrary to the established practice to give the names of officials in such cases.
§ Mr. LUNDONasked the Chief Secretary how many cases have been appealed by the pension officers in Ireland against the decisions of the local pension committees since January, 1910; in how many cases have the appeals been upheld; how many cases have been appealed under similar circumstances in England, Scotland, and Wales, respectively; and how many have been upheld by the English Local Government Board?
§ Mr. REDMOND BARRYThe number of appeals received between January, 1910, and the present time is 14,953. The majority of these appeals were from pension officers, but the Local Government Board make no distinction in their statistics between appeals lodged by pension officers and by claimants. A special examination of each of the 15,000 cases decided since the date mentioned would therefore be necessary to enable the Board to state how many of the pension officers' appeals were upheld. I have no information as to the number of cases appealed against and upheld in England, Scotland, and Wales.
§ Mr. LUNDONasked the Chief Secretary what evidence will satisfy the Irish Local Government Board in order that an applicant for an old age pension may be granted the same in cases where the age 364W cannot be found in the Census returns nor on the parish registers, and where the statements and affidavits of respectable people, who verify that the applicant is beyond the age limit, will not be accepted; have such statements as the latter been accepted as sufficient evidence by the English Local Government Board; and, if so, why has not the same course been adopted in Ireland?
§ Mr. REDMOND BARRYAs regards the first paragraph of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply to a similar question asked by him on the 16th instant. The Local Government Board understand that the same difficulty does not arise in England as in Ireland, as registration of births was in force in England thirty years before it came into operation generally in Ireland, and birth certificates are therefore usually procurable in the case of English septuagenarians.
§ Mr. LUNDONasked the Chief Secretary how many people in receipt of old age pensions have been struck off the pension list in Ireland since the beginning of January, 1910, the number similarly struck off in England, Scotland, and Wales, and the grounds on which they were taken off the list?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe number of old age pensions revoked, as the result of questions raised, during 1910, was in Ireland 4,401, and in England, Scotland, and. Wales 3,715. No figures are yet available for 1911; nor are there any statistics as to the various grounds of revocation.