§ Mr. SHEEHANasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that Daniel Keeffe, of Knocknagullane, Millstreet, county Cork, was in receipt of an old age pension until February, 1910; will he say on what grounds he was then deprived of it; whether he is aware that Keeffe's age was not found on either the Census Returns of 1841 or 1851, and that the parish register of Rathmore, where he was born, contained no entry of it; that several persons testified at the meeting of the pensions sub-committee on 2nd February, 812W 1911, that this man was well over the statutory age, and that his sister, who is two years his senior, is proved by the Census of 1841 to be seventy-two years and seven months; and will he say why, seeing that Keeffe is clearly entitled to a pension on statutory grounds, his claim is still refused by the Local Government Board?
§ Mr. BIRRELLIn February, 1910, the Local Government Board, on appeal, allowed a question raised by the pension officer on the ground that Daniel Keeffe had not reached the statutory age. His name was not included in the records of his parents' family in the Census Return of 1841, from which it would appear that he was not born until after the Census was taken in June, 1841. The sister Mary referred to is only seventy-one years and two months old according to the 1841 Census, but Keeffe's second claim is still under investigation by the Board.
§ Mr. SHEEHANasked whether the pension claim of Bridget Sullivan, Knockraheen, Carriginimma, was twice passed by the Macroom pension sub-committee; whether, in the absence of proof of age in the Census Returns and parish register, she produced satisfactory documentary evidence, including a statement of the late Reverend H. Kelleher, P.P., Grenagh, who knew her from her infancy, that she had reached the statutory period; have the Local Government Board the facts of the case at present before them; and what action do they propose to take in reference to the matter?
§ Mr. BIRRELLTwo claims made by Bridget Sullivan were passed by the Macroom No. 2 pension sub-committee, but disallowed by the Local Government Board on appeal by the pension officer on the ground that there was no satisfactory evidence of her having attained the statutory age. Her name did not appear in the Census Return of her parents' family in 1841, from which it would appear that she was not then born. As the Board are no longer in possession of the documents relating to the case they are unable to state positively whether the testimony of the late Rev. H. Kelleher was before them, but apparently it was not. Mrs. Sullivan's second claim was decided by the Board in December last.