asked the Minister for Local Government if he will state what provision for promoting the welfare of blind persons has been made by the County Council of Donegal, as required by the Blind Persons Act, 1920, and, if no effective provision has been made, what steps the Minister is prepared to take to safeguard the interests of blind persons who—as in the case of Michael Quinn, of Ballyshannon—have been recommended for pensions by a local Pension Committee, but whose blindness has been determined by the Minister to be insufficient to qualify them for pension under the Act.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - WELFARE OF THE BLIND IN DONEGAL.
The Tirconaill County Council have not submitted a scheme in accordance with the provisions of Section 2 of the Blind Persons Act, 1920, for promoting the welfare of blind persons ordinarily resident in their county, although requested by the Ministry to do so in a Circular Letter of 22nd March, 1922. Such a scheme would usually take the form of financial assistance towards the provision and maintenance of workshops, hostels, homes, or other places for the reception of blind persons, whether within or without the county.
There are six existing institutions, providing all or some of these services for the blind, at present operating in the Saorstát, the three principal ones being in Dublin—namely, the Female Blind Asylum, Merrion; St. Joseph's Asylum for the Male Blind, Drumcondra; and the Richmond National Institution for the Industrious Blind, Upper O'Connell Street, Dublin. These receive blind persons from various counties, including Tirconaill, in respect of many of whom contributions are payable by Boards of Guardians or their successors. Two smaller institutions admitting patients from the surrounding districts exist in Cork County Borough and one in Limerick County Borough.
Grants in aid of these institutions are disbursed annually by the Ministry on a capitation basis, but these are payable only in respect of persons too blind to perform work in respect of which eyesight is essential. As this is also the definition of blindness adopted in considering the eligibility of a person for a pension under Section 1 of the Act of 1920, it would not appear that the Minister for Local Government has any functions in regard to a person whose blindness has been determined to be insufficient to qualify for a pension under the Act.