asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will state (a) the number of institutions, including voluntary institutions catering for the blind, and, in the case of voluntary institutions, the names of the control communities and the location of the institutions, and (b) the amount and nature of State contribution to voluntary institutions, and the number of patients catered for in each.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Institutions for the Blind.
I propose, with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, to circulate in the Official Report a statement giving the required information.
Following is the statement:—
There are eight institutions, all voluntary, catering for blind persons These institutions are:—
1. St. Mary's Home for Blind, Merrion, Dublin, administered by the Sisters of Charity, catering for 173 persons;
2. St. Joseph's (School and Home), Drumcondra, Dublin, administered by the Order of Charity, catering for 94 persons;
3. Richmond National Institution for Industrious Blind, O'Connell Street, Dublin, administered by a Board of Governors, catering for 40 persons;
4. The National Institution and Molyneux Asylum for the Blind of Ireland, Leeson Park, Dublin, administered by a Board of Trustees and Guardians, catering for 10 persons;
5. Simpsons Hospital, Dundrum, Co. Dublin, administered by a Board of Trustees, catering for 9 persons;
6. The Incorporated Home for Protestant Incurables, Military Hill, Cork, administered by a Board of Governors, catering for 5 persons;
7. The Institution for the Industrious Blind, Infirmary Road, Cork, administered by a Board of Trustees, catering for 42 persons;
8. The Home for Blind and Aged Women of Trinity Church, Limerick, administered by a Board of Trustees, catering for 1 person.
Annual capitation grants are paid to each institution at the following rates:—
£40 for each workshop employee,
£20 for each worker maintained in a hostel,
£20 for each inmate of a home,
£40 for each pupil in a school residence.
In addition, special annual capitation grants, at £25 per head, are paid to St. Joseph's and the Richmond Institutions towards the losses arising out of the employment of out-resident workers. Grants at 2/6 per volume are also paid in respect of books and 2d. per copy for sheet music produced in embossed type at St. Mary's, Merrion, and recoupment is also made of one-half of the cost of certain minor services having for their object the prevention of blindness or the betterment of the conditions of the blind, for example, the provision of spectacles.