I move:—
Go ndeontar suim Bhreise ná raghaidh thar £10 (deich bpúint) chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1936, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí Oifig an Aire Rialtais
Aitiúla agus Sláinte Puiblí i dtaobh Riaracháin na nAchtanna um Arachas Sláinte Náisiúnta, 1911 go 1934, agus an Achta um Pinsin do Bhaintreacha agus do Dhílleachtaithe, 1935, agus chun Ilsíntiúisí agus Ildeontaisí, ar a n-áirmhítear Deontaisí áirithe i gCabhair, mar gheall ar Chostas Sochar agus Costaisí Riaracháin fé sna hActanna um Arachas Sláinte Náisiúnta.
That a Supplementary sum not exceeding £10 (ten pounds) l.e granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1936, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health in connection with the administration of the National Health Insurance Acts, 1911 to 1934, and of the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Act, 1935, and for sundry Contributions and Grants, including certain Grants-in-Aid, in respect of the cost of benefits and expenses of administration under the National Health Insurance Acts.
The Widows' and Orphans'. Pensions Act was passed on 2nd August last, and immediately thereafter steps were taken to establish an office and to organise a staff to deal with its administration. Claim forms were made available at all post offices, and explanatory leaflets issued in which possible claimants were advised as to the conditions under which non-contributory pensions might be paid, and the procedure to be followed in claiming them. Arrangements were made for the furnishing of cheap certificates of birth, marriage and death. Early in September claims began to be received at the rate of about 200 per day. In order that delay in dealing with claims might be avoided, notices in the daily Press were inserted to induce claimants to forward claims as early as possible, and the number of claims received rose steadily to a maximum of about 400 per day in the middle of October. Thereafter they fell to an average of about 130 per day, at which they now stand.
The total number of claims received to 6th December is 19,591, of which 19,197 are for widows' pensions, and 394 for orphans' pensions. Of these 4,870 are cases in which it has been decided that non-contributory pensions cannot be granted. The principal reason for rejection in these cases is that the widow is under 60, and has no dependent children. It will be remembered that the Act provides that non-contributory pensions are not payable to widows who have not attained the age of 60 unless they have at least one child who is under the age of 14, or a child over 14 and less than 16 who is attending school, or is physically or mentally incapacitated. Some 2,500 claims have been rejected because this condition has not been fulfilled. In some 1,400 other cases it has not been established that the late husband of the widow was insured under the National Health Insurance Acts at the date of death. This condition is essential except in cases where the late husband was the occupier of a small holding not exceeding £8 in valuation. Claims had also to be rejected where the valuation of the holding exceeded £8 or where the widow had ceased to reside on the holding. The number of rejections under this head is approximately 600.
There were also some 1,330 cases where the claim forms were incorrectly completed, or were not properly signed or witnessed, or where additional information from the claimant was required before the claim could be proceeded with. In most of these cases it appeared that even though the claims were not properly made, the applicant was obviously not entitled to pension, and was so informed. The balance of 13,391 includes 2,316 cases recently received, leaving 11,075 cases in which a prima facie title to pension has been established.
Further investigation of these cases is however necessary. A large proportion of the husbands in respect of whom claims are made have died many years ago, and it is necessary to verify that at the date of death they were members of a national health insurance society or were insured persons. This has necessitated search amongst the old records of approved societies now in the possession of the Unified Society. In many cases it has not been found possible to establish membership of an approved society, and alternative inquiries were necessary from employers as to the nature of the occupation of the deceased husband. It will be appreciated that this is often a difficult and laborious investigation. In addition, many applicants have been unable to furnish certificates of birth, marriage or death. In these cases the Department has had to arrange for the search of records in possession of the Registrar-General, or to obtain the required information from other countries.