§ Mr. FIELDasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland on what grounds the Local Government Board allowed the appeals of the pension officers depriving Thomas Dunne, pensioner No. 560; Bernard Lynch, No. 2,231; Ellen Lynch, No. 2,488; Bridget Keating, No. 2,479; Catherine Conroy, No. 2,513; Mary M'Cann, No. 2,492; John Boylan, No. 2,426; Honoria Connor, No. 2,480; Robert Spain, No. 2,521; Christopher Lawlor, No. 2,432; Anne O'Reilly, No. 2,482; Peter Foley, No. 696; Annie Hayes, No. 323; Bridget Condron, No. 1,221; Anne Harmon, No. 1,351; and Catherine Morgan, No. 891, of their old age pensions, they having been in receipt of the same when admitted to the South Dublin Union Hospital on medical certificates and having received medical and surgical assistance pursuant to Section 3 of the Old Age Pensions Act; whether any inquiry was made by the Local Government Board or one of their 1709W medical inspectors before the hearing of the appeal; and whether the Local Government Board had before them and whether they considered the resolution of the borough committee allowing the pensions when they made an order declaring that they did not come within Section 3 of the Old Age Pensions Act?
§ Mr. DUKEI am sending the hon. Member copy of a circular which sets out the principles on which the Local Government Board acted in dealing with the pensioners referred to, and which is similar to one issued in England. The pensioners had been in the workhouse for periods varying from nine to twenty months at the time of the decisions in their cases. The reply to the last part of the question is in the affirmative.