asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether ex-engineer Kilner Newman, late of Kilkenny, and now at Belfast Jail, was reduced in rank to warder because of injuries received by falling from a roof; whether Newman appealed on April 4th, 1922, against this reduction before his transfer, and has never received a reply?
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. [ ORAL ANSWERS. ] - PRISON WARDER'S STATUS.
Mr. O'HIGGINS
I am informed that Kilner Newman, who is a mason by trade, was injured by falling from a roof in 1916 while in the discharge of his duties in the Prisons Service, and in consequence he was retired on medical grounds, being granted a pension and compensation allowance. In April, 1918, he was re-employed as a permanent warder, his pension and compensation being cancelled. In July, 1921, he was regraded as an engineer, but in the same month he was found medically unfit to work at his trade, and was allowed to revert to the lighter duties of a warder.
I am informed that an appeal by Newman against this reduction was forwarded to the late Government through the General Prisons Board, and that no reply was received. He was transferred to Belfast on the 31st July, 1922, and is not now in the service of the Saorstát.