I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £175,000 chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1929, chun íoc Pinseana Sean-Aoise fé Achtanna na bPinsean Sean-Aoise, 1908 go 1924, chun Costaisí Riaracháin áirithe a bhaineann leo san, agus chun Pinseana fén Blind Persons Act, 1920.
That a sum not exceeding £175,000 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1929, for the payment of Old Age Pensions under the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 to 1924, for certain administrative expenses in connection therewith, and for pensions under the Blind Persons Act, 1920.
This Estimate arises out of an Act which was passed by the Oireachtas about this time last year. When the Bill was before the House, I estimated that the additional expense would be £150,000 in the first year, and ultimately £175,000. That estimate was based on a certain number of sample cases, the facts of which were examined by the Revenue Department. It proved, however, that the amount of the Estimate was rather lower than it ought to have been. Moreover, recently partly through the benefit of the doubt being more consistently given to pension claimants than in the past, a tendency that previously existed, for the number of old age pensioners to decline, has stopped; and in the last two or three years there has rather been a tendency for the number of people in receipt of old age pensions to increase. That tendency, together with the increased charge thrown upon the Exchequer by the Act of last year, accounts for the Supplementary Estimate.
