asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if he will state whether he has received the resolution of Monaghan Board of Health granting Mr. H.R. Gibson, rent collector and sub-sanitary officer, a pension to date from his resignation in March, 1940; and, if so, whether he proposes to sanction the granting of this pension.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Sanction of Pension Award.
A proposal to grant a superannuation allowance in this case was received from the Monaghan Board of Health and Public Assistance in August, 1940. The usual form of queries relating to the grant of superannuation allowance was issued to the local authority on the 13th of that month and was returned to the Department on the 17th October, 1940. The relevant query as to whether in fact the officer devoted his whole time to the service of the local authority had not been answered and the local authority were notified in December, 1940, that before the superannuation allowance could be granted it must be established that Mr. Gibson devoted his whole time as a permanent officer to the service of the board of health or other local authority. No further communication has since been received in my Department in regard to this matter and until it is established that he rendered whole-time service further consideration cannot be given to the case.
This man has been waiting since August, 1940, to discover whether he is entitled to a pension or not. Surely, between the Department and the commissioner in County Monaghan, it should be possible to determine whether this person is bona fide or not? Does the Parliamentary Secretary intend to do something about it or to sit there waiting for someone else to act?
The position is as stated in my reply to the Deputy. It is the responsibility of Mr. Gibson to satisfy the Minister, through the commissioner, that he did in fact give whole-time service. On the face of it, it does not look like whole-time service, when one considers that he was in receipt of a salary of £20 a year, with a percentage of his collections. At any rate, the onus is on him, through the commissioner, to satisfy the Minister that he was in fact in whole-time employment.
Am I not right in saying that the commissioner's predecessor in office has granted him a pension? Therefore, the commissioner knew what he was doing. Could there not be an end to this codology? Would someone write to the commissioner and ask him if this old man is to get a pension or not, so that he will not be persecuted and ground between the upper and nether millstones? Could the Parliamentary Secretary not write to the commissioner about it? It must be somebody's job — will somebody do it?
It is the claimant's job to satisfy the Minister that he was in fact in whole-time employment. The board have been asked, as I have stated in my reply, to give sufficient evidence as to whether he was in whole-time employment. No reply has been received from the board of health or the commissioner on that issue. It is reasonable to assume that the commissioner acting for the board of health is himself satisfied that the man is not entitled to a pension.
Why did he not inform the Department?
Will the Parliamentary Secretary be good enough to address a query to the commissioner, as to whether he has anything further to add to the correspondence in this matter of Mr. H.R. Gibson? If he does that, I will be perfectly satisfied.
Certainly.
Will the Parliamentary Secretary say whether there are many cases of this kind outstanding?
Not that I am aware of.