HC Deb 02 April 1914 vol 60 c1370W
Mr. FRANCIS MEEHAN

asked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that Mary Dunbar, of Manorhamilton, county Leitrim, register No. 635, was denied an old age pension owing to a mistaken entry in the Census of 1851; and whether, having regard to the fact that the name entered was that of her half-sister, who was four years younger and bore the same name, the Local Government Board will reconsider her claim and grant her the pension?

Mr. BIRRELL

Mary Dunbar's claim for an old age pension was disallowed by the Local Government Board on appeal on the 13th instant on the ground that she was unable to furnish satisfactory proof of age. In the 1851 Census Returns she was shown as being three years of age, and the Board had nothing before them to prove that the entry is incorrect; nor was it stated that she had a younger sister of the same name as herself. It is not open to the Board to reconsider a decision already given.