Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 20 Mar 1928

Vol. 22 No. 13

OLD AGE PENSIONS BILL, 1928. MONEY RESOLUTION.

The Dáil went into Committee on Finance.

MINISTER for FINANCE (Mr. Blythe)

I move:—

Go bhfuil sé oiriúnach a údarú go n-íocfar amach as airgead a sholáthróidh an tOireachtas aon chostaisí fé n-a raghfar in íoc pinsean féaon Acht a rithfar sa tSiosón so chun Achtanna na bPinsean Sean-Aoise, 1908 go 1924, agus Acht na nDall, 1920, do leasú tré mhéadú do dhéanamh ar an ráta ar a bhfuil pinsin áirithe iníochta fútha agus chun crícheanna a bhaineas leis an méadú san.

That it is expedient to authorise the payment out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas of any expenses incurred in the payment of pensions under any Act of the present Session to amend the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908-1924, and the Blind Persons Act, 1920, by increasing the rate at which certain pensions are payable thereunder and for purposes incidental to such increase.

The financial effects of the changes under the Old Age Pensions Act, which are proposed, have been discussed at length in the Dáil, and I do not propose to go over the ground again.

Mr. MORRISSEY

Before the Money Resolution is passed, might I ask the Minister for Finance if he has given any consideration to the requests made to him last week from all parts of the House with regard to restoring the old conditions to blind pensioners that prevailed prior to the passing of the 1924 Act? That is as regards the means qualification. I think the Minister ought to accede to the requests which, in this matter, were made to him from all sides of the House. It was quite evident from the speeches that were made when the matter was under discussion a few nights ago that it was the wish of all parties in the House that this concession should be granted to the blind pensioners.

Mr. BLYTHE

I said then that I thought the matter would need to be thought out more than we have been able to think it out. I said also that we were going to make some alteration in the definition of blindness, and that if such an alteration led to a thousand more persons getting the blind pension we would have an increased charge of say, £20,000 or £25,000 per annum. If we adopted the resolution in full, I said that it might work out at £26,000. If the increase in the number of pensioners were two thousand instead of one thousand, as might easily be the case, then we would have what would become a very substantial additional charge.

We ought to consider carefully what we should do. I do not believe any of us have given enough thought to the question as to whether what Deputy Morrissey proposes is the best course to adopt in the way of expending any additional money we can afford for the relief of the blind. It might be better to make our definition of blindness a little bit looser, or to lower the age limit. I think a little more time should be devoted to the consideration of the subject.

Mr. MORRISSEY

I take it the Minister will give consideration to the matter, and that it will have been more or less examined before the introduction of the Bill?

Mr. BLYTHE

I undertake to do that.

Resolution put and agreed to.

The Dáil went out of Committee.

Question—"That the Dáil agree with the Committee in the Resolution"—put and agreed to.