asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether his attention has been called to a report of an inquest published on the 27th November, 1945, concerning the death of Michael Joseph Dixon, aged 14 years, an inmate of St. Joseph's Institute for the Blind, Drumcondra, Dublin, who died in that institution on the 1st November last; if he is aware that allegations of ill-treatment of this boy at various times previous to his death were made, and that, at the end, he suffered from lack of timely medical treatment and died without the rites of the Church; and, if so, if he will state what action it is proposed to take in the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Drumcondra Blind Asylum Inquest.
There is no information in my Department regarding this case other than the statements contained in the Press report published on the 27th November. I am not therefore in a position to express any opinion on the matters raised in the second part of the question. As regards the concluding portion of the question, grants are paid to the institution as an approved voluntary agency for the provision of (a) workshops for the blind, and (b) hostels, homes or school residence, but in respect of such grants the agency is subject to inspection only as regards the premises, records and work of the agency connected with the welfare of the blind. The circumstances of the case appear to me to warrant a special investigation of the services provided in this institution, and this is being arranged.