asked the Minister for Finance if he will state (a) how many blind persons between the ages of 15 and 50 are registered under schemes for the welfare of the blind, and how many of such blind persons have received the benefit which these schemes claim to provide; (b) how many blind persons of 50 years of age and upwards were in receipt of a pension under the Blind Persons Act on 17th December, 1929, and the total amount paid in respect of such pensions for the year 1929; (c) how many blind persons of 50 years and upwards are in receipt of allowances from county council and county borough council schemes for the blind; and (d) whether the Minister can tell the House the total number of blind persons in Saorstát Eireann.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Blind-Welfare Schemes.
The following is the best information available in reply to the four sub-divisions of the Deputy's question: (a) From returns received by the Department of Local Government and Public Health from 25 local authorities who had adopted schemes for the welfare of the blind, it appears that the number of blind persons between the ages of 15 and 50 registered under these schemes on the 31st March, 1929, was 379 and that 356 of these persons were in receipt of assistance under the schemes; (b) No figures are available showing the number of persons who were in receipt of pensions under Section 1 of the Blind Persons Act, 1920, as at 17th December, 1929. The number of such persons as at the last Friday in December, 1929, was 2,884 and the approximate cost of pensions for blind persons during the year ended 31st December, 1929, was £70,033; (c) The number of blind persons of 50 years and upwards in receipt of allowances under blind welfare schemes from the 25 local authorities mentioned in (a) above was 698. The majority of these schemes did not come into operation until 1928 and the returns, therefore, do not represent the normal operation of the schemes; (d) There are no statistics available which would enable me to state the total number of blind persons in Saorstát Eireann.