asked the Minister for Social Welfare the statutory authority for requiring a husband to refund to his Department alleged overpayments of old age pension paid to his deceased wife in her lifetime.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Refund of Alleged Overpayments of Old Age Pension.
3.
The statutory authority for the recovery of non-contributory old age pension money paid to a person who had wrongfully received it is contained in Subsection 2 of Section 9 of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1908. That Subsection provides that anyone who has received such an overpayment or, in the case of his death, his personal representative, shall be liable to repay it. Any demand for repayment would be made on the husband of a deceased pensioner if there were no other legal representative.
Is the limit of the liability of the husband in that case the amount of his wife's property he may have inherited?
I would think so.
Would the Minister indicate how, in the absence of means, a husband could pay back to the Department such an alleged debt? If that is the policy of the Department, would the Minister indicate to old age pensioners how they are to live over a period of two or three years?
I am not exactly sure what the position is with regard to the Supplementaries of Deputy Dillon and Deputy Jones.