This Bill is designed to remedy a defect which crept into the Old Age Pensions Act of 1932. Under the Act known as the Blind Persons Act, 1920, it was provided that pensions should be paid to blind persons attaining the age of 60 years. This age qualification was reduced to 30 years by Section 6 of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1932. In addition to providing pensions for blind persons the Act of 1920 also made it complusory on local authorities to arrange for the welfare of blind persons ordinarily resident within their respective areas. Arrangements which are commonly known as blind welfare schemes mainly take the form of monetary allowances to necessitous and blind persons living in their own houses. In a minority of cases the allowances are by way of an augmentation of the wages paid by the authorities of certain institutions to blind persons who perform certain kinds of work in the institution, but who live at home. In every case the allowance is increased if the recipient has dependent children. As the law stands at present such allowances must be taken into account in full when calculating the means of a claimant for a pension, even though portion of this allowance may be intended for the maintenance of his dependent children. The fact is that the welfare schemes cannot be fully utilised for the benefit of the blind person, because the amount of the blind pension is reduced in consequence of the children's allowance, and there is, furthermore, an undesirable inequality in the treatment of the claims for pensions as between those who have children and those who have no children. The Bill proposes to remedy this by providing for the exclusion in the calculation of the means of any sums paid by a local body in respect of a blind person. That is the purpose of the Bill.
Old Age Pensions Bill, 1938 (Certified Money Bill)—Second and Subsequent Stages.
Question proposed: "That the Bill be read a Second Time."
Question put and agreed to.
This is a one section Bill, and I wish to take the remaining stages now.
Mr. Hayes
Very well, we are agree able.
Bill passed through Committee and reported without recommendation.
Bill received for final consideration and ordered to be returned to the Dáil.