asked the Minister for Health if he will state the number of applications under Section 23 of the Health Act, 1953, for the maternity cash grant of £4 in respect of confinements, which have been received from the County Borough of Cork; and if he will state the number of these applications which have been (a) granted and (b) disallowed.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cork Maternity Grant Applications.
asked the Minister for Health if he will give detailed particulars of the scale approved by the health authority administering the area of the County Borough of Cork, under which applications for the cash maternity grant provided for by Section 23 of the Health Act, 1953, are allowed or disallowed.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to reply to Questions Nos. 36 and 37 together.
In the South Cork Public Assistance District, which includes the County Borough of Cork, the maternity cash grants scheme under Section 23 of the Health Act, 1953, is administered by the board of public assistance for that district, and I regret that I have not information as to numbers of applications, etc., for the Cork County Borough and the remainder of the district separately.
The number of applications received by that board of assistance from the commencement of the scheme up to 31st May last, the latest date up to which I have information, was 975. Of these, 713 had been allowed and 168 refused. The remaining 94 applications were under consideration on the latter date.
The determination of the eligibility for the grant is a matter for the local authority concerned, and I have no power to interfere with its discretion in any individual case. I understand that the authority has adopted a scale as a preliminary rough-and-ready guide in its consideration of applications; but since the scale is not regarded as in any sense final, and since the authority, in dealing with each application, must and, I am informed, does have regard to all the circumstances of the applicant, it would be misleading to quote it.