AN ACT TO REMEDY THE MORE SERIOUS DEFECTS IN THE EXISTING LAW RELATING TO THE RELIEF OF THE POOR AND CERTAIN OTHER MATTERS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND FOR THAT PURPOSE TO AMEND TEMPORARILY THE LAWS RELATING TO THE MATTERS AFORESAID.

[28th March, 1923.]

WHEREAS the existing laws relating to Local Government in Saorstát Eireann have long required amendment and alteration and in particular the existing law relating to the relief of the poor is wholly unsuited to the circumstances of Saorstát Eireann and causes unnecessary hardship to persons requiring relief thereunder while at the same time the cost of administering such relief is excessive:

AND WHEREAS in the circumstances hereinbefore recited the relief of the poor under the existing law has in several counties become wholly unworkable and in order to meet the emergency so occasioned the Councils of those Counties have re-organised the administration of the relief of the poor in their respective Counties and have for some time past been administering such relief in accordance with Schemes prepared by such Councils with the approval of the Minister for Local Government, the principal provisions of which Schemes are:—

( a ) the abolition of the existing system under which the poor were relieved in workhouses established in each Poor Law Union;

( b ) the centralization of the administration under one authority in each county;

( c ) the establishment in each county of central institutions in which the poor of the county can be relieved;

( d ) enabling all poor persons requiring relief to be relieved either in or out of the central institution as may be thought advisable:

AND WHEREAS until a comprehensive reorganization of the whole law of Local Government in Saorstát Eireann can be prepared and submitted to the Oireachtas it is necessary that temporary provision should be made to remedy the more serious defects in the law and in particular that legal authority should be given to the said Schemes of poor relief which have been put into operation by several County Councils as aforesaid, that power should be given to other County Councils to formulate similar schemes, that certain emergency powers should be given to Local Authorities, and that authority should be given temporarily to the Minister for Local Government to deal with Local Authorities which are forgetful of their duties and responsibilities:

BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

Definition of "County Scheme"

1.—In this Act:—

the expression "County Scheme" means a scheme prepared under or in accordance with this Act by the Council of a County for the administration of the relief of the poor in that County:

the expression "existing scheme" means one of the schemes for the administration of the relief of the poor in a County set out in the First Schedule to this Act:

the expression "existing County Scheme" means so much of an existing scheme as relates to the relief of the poor and does not contravene any of the provisions of this Act.

Operation of existing County Schemes.

2.—(1) From and after the passing of this Act the relief of the poor in a County to which an existing County Scheme relates shall be administered under and in accordance with such existing County Scheme and the law relating to the relief of the poor in that County shall be deemed to be and is hereby altered or modified in such manner and to such extent as is necessary to give full force and effect to such existing County Scheme.

(2) The existing County Scheme relating to a County named in the First Column of the Second Schedule to this Act shall be deemed to have come into operation on the date specified in the Second Column of the said Second Schedule opposite the name of such County and the several amendments (if any) made in such existing County Scheme shall be deemed to have come into operation on the respective dates specified in the Third Column of the said Second Schedule opposite the name of such County.

(3) From and after the date on which any existing County Scheme or any amendment to any such Scheme is by this section deemed to have come into operation the law relating to the relief of the poor in the County to which such Scheme relates shall be deemed to have been altered or modified in such manner and to such extent as may have been necessary to give full force and effect to such Scheme or amendment as the case may be.

(4) Every act, matter and thing which was done or omitted to be done under or in pursuance of an existing County Scheme in relation to the relief of the poor in the County to which such Scheme relates at any time after such Scheme had come into operation and before the passing of this Act shall be deemed to have been validly done or omitted to be done (as the case may require) under the law as modified or altered pursuant to the foregoing sub-section.

(5) Any provision contained in any existing Scheme which deals with any matter other than the relief of the poor or which contravenes any provision of this Act shall be and shall be deemed to have always been void and of no effect: Provided always that for the purposes of this Act a County Infirmary shall be deemed to be an institution for the relief of the poor.

(6) Nothing in this section shall operate to make illegal any act done before the passing of this Act which would have been legal if this Act had not been passed.

County Council may prepare Scheme where no existing Scheme

3.—(1) The Council of any County in Saorstát Eireann to which no existing County Scheme relates may prepare a scheme in accordance with the provisions of this Act for the relief of the poor in that County, and may submit such scheme when prepared to the Minister.

(2) Subject to the consent of the Minister the Council of any County Borough and the Council of any County adjoining such County Borough in lieu of preparing separate schemes under this section may prepare a joint scheme for the relief of the poor in such County Borough and County and submit such joint scheme to the Minister and for the purposes of this Act every such joint scheme when duly confirmed by the Minister under this Act shall be a County Scheme and such County Borough and County shall together be one County.

Confirmation of Schemes by Minister

4.—(1) The Minister shall either:—

( a ) confirm without alteration, or

( b ) confirm with such modifications, omissions and additions as he shall deem necessary, or

( c ) wholly reject

every scheme submitted to him under this Act.

(2) At least one month before confirming (either with or without modification) any scheme submitted to him under this Act the Minister shall publish in two newspapers circulating in the County to which such scheme relates, notice of his intention to confirm such scheme, and whether such confirmation is intended to be with or without modification, and shall at the same time send to the Secretary of the Council of such County and the Clerk of every Rural or Urban District Council in such County a copy of such scheme, with all the modifications (if any) intended to be made therein by the Minister, and such Secretary and Clerks shall respectively at all reasonable times during such month permit such copy to be inspected and copied by any person at the office of the County or Rural or Urban District Council, as the case may be.

(3) Every scheme submitted to the Minister under this Act which shall be confirmed (whether with or without alteration) by the Minister shall come into operation on the day on which the same is so confirmed and shall be a County Scheme within the meaning of this Act and from and after that date the relief of the poor in the County to which such scheme relates shall be administered under and in accordance with such scheme, and the law relating to the relief of the poor in such County shall be deemed to be altered or modified so as to give full force and effect to such scheme.

(4) Every scheme confirmed by the Minister under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is confirmed, and if a resolution is passed by each House of the Oireachtas within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which either House has sat annulling such scheme, such scheme shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such scheme.

Power to alter County Schemes.

5.—(1) The Minister, by order made under this section, may from time to time amend or modify any County Scheme after it has come into operation in any way he may deem necessary and every such amendment or modification shall come into operation as from such date as the Minister shall by such order direct.

(2) Before making any amendment or modification in any County Scheme under this section the Minister shall give to the Council of the County to which such scheme relates one month's previous notice of his intention to make such amendment or modification and shall take into consideration any representation which may be made by such Council within such month in respect of such amendment or modification but it shall not be obligatory on the Minister to act on or comply with any such representation.

(3) Every Order made by the Minister under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and if a resolution is passed by each House of the Oireachtas within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which either House has sat annulling such order, such Order shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such Order.

(4) This section applies as well to existing County Schemes as to County Schemes submitted and confirmed under this Act.

Duration of County Scheme.

6.—Every County Scheme shall continue in operation until the 31st day of March, 1924, and shall then expire.

County Schemes may abolish Boards, Committees, &c.

7.—(1) A County Scheme may provide for the abolition of any Board of Guardians, County Hospital Committee, County Infirmary Committee or any other body existing in the County to which the County Scheme relates and exercising functions connected with the relief of the poor in that County, and for the transfer to the Council of the County to which the Scheme relates, or to a Committee to be established by that Council, either alone or jointly with the Councils of the Rural and Urban Districts comprised within the County, of all the powers and duties in relation to the relief of the poor of the body or bodies abolished by the Scheme, provided that where the functional area of any such Board, Committee, or other Body extended outside the County to which the County Scheme relates, such Board, Committee, or other body shall only be abolished under this section in so far as it exercised functions within that County.

(2) When any such Board, Committee or other body as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section is abolished under a County Scheme then and in every such case on and after the date on which such County Scheme shall come or is deemed to have come into operation:—

( a ) all the property of such Board, Committee or other body shall pass to and vest in and be held in trust for the Council of the County to which such County Scheme relates subject to all debts and liabilities affecting such property and shall be held by the said Council for the same estate, interest and purposes and subject to the same covenants, conditions and restrictions for and subject to which such property should be held by law under such County Scheme or otherwise,

( b ) all debts and liabilities of such Board, Committee or other body shall become and be debts and liabilities of the said County Council and subject to the provisions of this Act and of the said County Scheme shall be defrayed by such Council out of the like property and funds as such debts and liabilities would have been defrayed out of if this Act had not passed: Provided that where the functional area of any such Board, Committee, or other body extended outside the County to which the County Scheme relates, so much only as the Minister shall appoint of the property, debts, and liabilities of such Board, Committee or other body shall pass to or be defrayed by the Council of that County under this sub-section.

(3) Whenever any lands or buildings are transferred to or acquired by the Council of any County under this section the said Council shall have full power subject to the provisions of the County Scheme to manage, alter and enlarge and with (but not without) the consent of the Minister to sell, lease or otherwise alienate all or any such lands or buildings and the Minister may impose such conditions as he shall think fit to the granting of his consent to any such sale, lease or alienation including conditions relating to the application of the proceeds of such sale, lease or alienation.

Alienation of lands and buildings by the Minister.

8.—The Minister may sell, lease or otherwise alienate all or any lands or buildings which are or shall at any time be vested in him in trust for any body abolished by any County Scheme, and the proceeds of every such sale, lease or alienation shall be held by the Minister in trust for any purpose for which such land or buildings could have been used or applied by law under the said County Scheme or otherwise.

Provision for performance of vaccination duties.

9.—When the Board of Guardians of any Union is abolished by any County Scheme the powers and duties of such Board of Guardians under the Vaccination (Ireland) Acts in any County Borough or Urban or Rural District forming part of such Union shall be transferred to the Council of such County Borough or Urban or Rural District.

Removal of restrictions on out-door relief.

10.—Any person in a County to which a County Scheme relates who is eligible for relief may, subject to any regulations made by the Minister in that behalf, be granted outdoor relief, notwithstanding anything in any enactment limiting the granting thereof to certain classes of persons, and this provision shall be deemed to have had effect in any such County from and after the date on which such County Schemes came into operation.

Superannuation of officers whose offices are abolished.

11.—(1) Every officer of a Local Authority whose office is abolished under or in pursuance of any County Scheme shall, notwithstanding anything contained in such County Scheme, but subject to the provisions of this section, have the same rights in relation to superannuation as if he had been removed from his office for a cause other than misconduct or incapacity prior to the passing of this Act, and any provision in any County Scheme purporting to increase or diminish such rights shall be void and of no effect: Provided that where any such officer is, within three months after the abolition of his office, appointed to a pensionable office under such County Scheme, the salary and emoluments of which are not less than the salary and emoluments of his previous office, he shall not be entitled to the rights in relation to superannuation given by this sub-section, but he shall, for pension purposes, be entitled to add his period of service with the local authority to his subsequent service under the County Scheme or otherwise.

(2) Where any Board of Guardians has been abolished under or in pursuance of any County Scheme, and any person held before such abolition the joint office of Clerk to such Board of Guardians and Clerk to a Rural District Council, or the joint office of Relieving Officer of a Board of Guardians and Sanitary Sub-Officer of a Rural District Council, and such joint office was immediately before such abolition pensionable, the office of Clerk to such Rural District Council or the office of Sanitary Sub-officer of such Rural District Council (as the case may be) shall, so long as such person continues to hold the same, be deemed to be pensionable notwithstanding the fact that such person does not devote the whole of his time to the service of such Council: Provided that any official of a Board of Guardians, who is also an official of a Rural District Council, shall be entitled, on the determination of his office under Board of Guardians to retire, as official under Rural District Council, on the same terms as if his office had been abolished.

(3) Where the Board of Guardians of any Union extending into two or more counties is abolished by a County Scheme or Schemes, the pensions of the pensionable officers of such Union shall be paid by the Council of the County in which the Workhouse belonged to such Union was situate, and the Council of that County shall be entitled to recover from the Council of any other county into which such Union extended the contribution payable by such Council towards such pension.

(4) Whenever before the passing of this Act an allowance has been granted under Section 8 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1919, to an officer in respect of his removal from office under or in pursuance of any County Scheme, the Council of the County to which the liability to pay such allowance to such officer has under this Act been transferred, may, if they so think fit within a period of three months from the passing of this Act, notify such officer and the Minister of their desire to dispute the right of such officer to such allowance or the amount of such allowance, and thereupon a case of dispute within the meaning of the said Section 8 shall be deemed to have arisen, and the right to and amount of such allowance shall be determined by the Minister in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1919.

Notwithstanding a determination by the Minister under this sub-section disallowing the right of any such officer to such allowance or altering the amount of such allowance, such officer shall be entitled to receive and be paid the allowance up to the date of such determination at the rate at which same was granted under the said Section 8.

(5) From and after the passing of this Act no allowance, the amount of which exceeds the amount of an allowance calculated according to the scale provided by the Superannuation Acts, 1834 to 1892, and the rules thereunder shall be granted by a Local Authority to an officer under the provisions of Section 8 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1919, without the consent of the Minister.

(6) Where any officer of a Local Authority who holds a pensionable office:

( a ) is, or has been removed from his office by or in pursuance of any County Scheme; or

( b ) after the passing of this Act, is removed from his office for a cause other than misconduct or incapacity; or

( c ) after the passing of this Act resigns his office with the sanction of the Minister—

and was at the time of his appointment to such pensionable office employed by the Local Authority in a temporary capacity, the temporary service of such officer shall, to such extent, if any, as the Minister may direct, be reckoned as service in a pensionable office for the purpose of any enactment relating to the superannuation of officers of a Local Authority.

Power to dissolve a Local Authority.

12.—(1) The Minister may at any time if he thinks fit, order a Local Inquiry into the performance of its duties by any Local Authority, and Article 32 of the Schedule to the Local Government (Application of Enactments) Order, 1898, shall apply to every such Local Inquiry.

(2) If and whenever

( a ) the Minister is satisfied, after the holding of such a Local Inquiry as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section, that the duties of a Local Authority are not being duly and effectually discharged by such Local Authority, or

( b ) a Local Authority wilfully neglects to comply with any lawful order, direction or regulation of the Minister, or

( c ) a Local Authority fails to comply with any judgment order or decree of any Court in Saorstát Eireann,

the Minister may, by Order dissolve such Local Authority, and either order (under the power hereinafter conferred on him) a new election of members of such Local Authority or transfer the property and the several powers and duties of such Local Authority to any body or persons or person he shall think fit.

(3) Whenever the Minister makes an Order under the foregoing sub-section dissolving a Local Authority he may appoint such and so many persons as he shall think fit to perform the duties of such Local Authority and may from time to time remove all or any such persons and appoint others in their place and may fix the tenure of office, duties and remuneration of all such persons.

(4) The remuneration of all persons appointed under the foregoing sub-section shall be paid out of the revenue of such Local Authority as part of its expenses.

(5) At any time after a Local Authority has been dissolved under this section the Minister may by Order cause a new election of members of such Local Authority to be held, and upon the completion of such new election all the property, powers and duties of the dissolved Local Authority shall vest in the body so elected notwithstanding that the same may have been transferred by the Minister under this section to any other body, persons or person.

(6) The Minister may from time to time by Order do all such things and make all such regulations as in his opinion shall be necessary for giving full effect to any Order made by him under this section.

Amendment of sections 3 and 6 of 11 & 12 Geo. 5, c. 67.

13.—Sub-section 3 of Section 3 (which authorises borrowing on short term loans by Local Authorities) and Section 6 (which relaxes the limit of borrowing powers of Local Authorities in certain cases) of the Local Authorities (Financial Provisions) Act, 1921 (11 & 12 Geo. V., ch. 67) shall be amended by the substitution of the words "thirty-first day of March, Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-four" for the words "first day of April, Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-three" wherever those words occur.

Member of Local Authority may not be employed by that or another Local Authority.

14.—(1) No person shall hold any office of profit under or be employed for remuneration by or under any Local Authority from and after the holding of the election or appointment of members to such Local Authority next held after the passing of this Act while he is or within six months after he has ceased to be a member of such Local Authority, or of any other Local Authority whose functional area is, or is situate in, the same County as that of or within which is situate the functional area of such Local Authority or save with reference to and sanction of the Minister in any County adjoining to that County.

(2) Any member of a Local Authority whose membership is terminated by his resignation or otherwise, at or before the next election or appointment of members to such Local Authority after the passing of this Act shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to have ceased to be a member of such Local Authority on a date six months prior to the date of such election.

Powers over persons employed by Local Authorities.

15.—(1) The Minister shall have with respect to all persons now employed or hereafter to be employed by any Local Authority in any office or employment to which this section applies and with respect to the accounts of such persons all the same powers as he now has by law with respect to officers of Boards of Guardians of Poor Law Unions and the accounts of such officers respectively.

(2) This Section shall apply to such offices and employments as the Minister shall from time to time by Order prescribe.

Power to Councils to provide money for instruction in the Irish Language.

16.—(1) The Council of any County or Urban District, in addition to any existing power, may, in the local financial year ending on the 31st day of March, 1924, raise in the manner provided by Section 19 of the Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act, 1899, a sum equal to a rate of one penny in the pound on the rateable value mentioned in that Section.

(2) All moneys raised under this section shall be applied for the purpose of providing instruction in the Irish language in the county or urban district.

(3) Save as otherwise provided by this section, all the provisions of the said Act shall apply to all moneys raised under this section.

(4) Any moneys raised and expended by the Council of any County or Urban District for the purpose of providing instruction in the Irish Language in the county or urban district, prior to the passing of this Act, shall be deemed to have been lawfully raised and expended.

Power to County Councils to grant exhibitions, &c.

17.—(1) The Council of any County or County Borough may assist by means of exhibitions, scholarships, bursaries, payment of fees or otherwise, any students or intending students at any approved school in Saorstát Eireann who are ordinarily resident in such County or Borough and who satisfy the Council that they are qualified to profit by instruction in such school and are in need of assistance, and who also satisfy such tests of ability as shall be prescribed in pursuance of this section.

(2) An approved school shall be such school, either extern or residential, for the giving of secondary education or the giving of instruction or training in agriculture, forestry, trade, commerce, domestic economy, teaching, or any other subject of a vocational character as may be approved of by order of the Minister for Education.

(3) The tests of ability to be satisfied by students under this section shall be prescribed in a scheme to be formulated for the purposes of this section by the Council of the County or County Borough in accordance with rules to be made by the Minister for Education, and no such scheme shall have any effect unless and until approved by the Minister for Education.

(4) Any expenses incurred by the Council of a County or County Borough under this section shall be paid, in the case of the Council of a County as a county at large charge, and in the case of the Council of a County Borough as expenses of the Council of the Borough in the execution of the Public Health (Ireland) Acts, 1878 to 1919, but the amount raised by such Council in any year for the purpose of this section shall not exceed the amount which would be produced by a rate of 1d. in the pound or such higher rate as the Council, with the consent of the Minister, may fix.

(5) Any moneys raised and expended by the Council of any County or Urban District for the purposes specified in this section prior to the passing of this Act shall be deemed to have been lawfully expended.

Sums in Third Schedule to be repaid by Local Authorities.

18.—(1) The several sums of money specified in the first column of the Third Schedule to this Act which were advanced to the respective Local Authorities on the respective dates specified in the second and third column respectively of the said Third Schedule opposite to such sums respectively are hereby declared to be repayable on or before the respective dates specified in the fourth column of the said Third Schedule opposite such sums into the Exchequer of Saorstát Eireann by the respective Local Authorities to whom the said sums were respectively advanced as aforesaid.

(2) The repayment of the several sums aforesaid pursuant to the foregoing sub-section shall for all purposes (including the auditing of the accounts of the Local Authority) be legal and valid payments.

Payments in Fourth Schedule declared valid.

19.—The payment of the several sums of money specified in the first column of the Fourth Schedule to this Act by the respective Local Authorities on the respective dates and to the respective persons specified respectively in the second, third and fourth columns of the said Fourth Schedule, are hereby declared to be and always to have been for all purposes (including the auditing of the accounts of the Local Authority) valid and legal payments.

Orders which may be made by the Minister.

20.—The Minister may by Order do any of the matters following, that is to say:—

(1) apply to any public body established under or in pursuance of this Act or any County Scheme any existing enactment relating to County or District Councils or Boards of Guardians with such modifications as he shall deem necessary;

(2) make such adaptations of any existing enactment relating to any matter dealt with or affected by this Act as appear to him necessary or expedient for carrying into effect this Act or the County Schemes made thereunder;

(3) make rules for carrying this Act or the County Schemes made thereunder into effect and in particular for regulating—

(i.) the estimating and raising of the expenses of administering a County Scheme;

(ii.) the accounts, audit and annual estimates of any public body established by a County Scheme;

(iii.) the transfer of the property and liabilities of any public body abolished under this Act;

(iv.) any adjustment of rights, duties and liabilities required for the purposes of this Act;

(v.) generally for carrying this Act into effect.

(4) Every Order made by the Minister under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution is passed by each House of the Oireachtas within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which either House has sat annulling such Order, such Order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such Order.

Definitions.

21.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:—

The expression "Local Authority" includes a county council county borough council, urban district council, rural district council, board of guardians, the town commissioners of any town, and any other public body which may be established by any County Scheme to perform any of the functions of the abovenamed bodies, and any committee or joint committee of any of the said authorities.

The word "Minister" means—

(i) as respects any act, matter or thing done or not done before the passing of this Act, any one of the persons following, that is to say:—

( a ) the Minister for Local Government;

( b ) the Minister for Local Government of the late Provisional Government of Ireland;

( c ) the person who before the establishment of the Provisional Government aforesaid was for the time being exercising the functions of the Minister for Local Government under the authority of Dáil Eireann.

and (ii) as respects any act, matter or thing to be done after the passing of this Act, the Minister for Local Government.

The word "County" includes County Borough, and the expression "County Council" includes County Borough Council.

The word "enactment" includes orders, rules and regulations and local acts as well as public and general acts.

The expression "existing enactments" means enactments in force in Saorstát Eireann at the date of the passing of this Act.

Short Title and Duration.

22.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1923

(2) This Act shall continue in force up to the 31st day of March, 1924, and shall then expire.

FIRST SCHEDULE

CAVAN COUNTY SCHEME.

1. That on a date to be fixed by the Committee of Management described below, the Workhouses at Bawnboy and Bailieborough be closed, and their inmates and those in Granard and Trim Workhouses chargeable on the County of Cavan be transferred to Cavan Workhouse, which shall form a Central Institution for the whole county, and shall be called the County Cavan Home.

2. That the management of the present Cavan Workhouse be transferred from the Cavan Board of Guardians to a Committee of Management consisting of 25 members, 15 of whom shall be appointed by the County Council, one by each Urban District Council, two by Cavan Rural District Council, and one by each of the other Rural District Councils within the county, and that casual vacancies in any representation be filled by the original body making the appointment. That the appointment of the first Committee be made after this Scheme of Amalgamation has been adopted and duly sanctioned by the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann. That five form a quorum for meetings of such Committee of Management. Regulations made by the Committee of Management of the County Home are to be subject to the sanction of the County Council and of the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann.

3. That the present Boards of Guardians cease to function from the date of the adoption of this Scheme by the County Council, with the Sealed Approval of Dáil Eireann and all matters connected with outdoor relief, medical charities, etc., be administered by a Sub-Committee consisting of representatives from the Rural District Council, Urban District Council, and County Council. These Sub-Committees shall be under the direct control of the Committee of Management and shall, as regards their functions and powers, be in a similar position relative to the Committee of Management as shall be the Committee of Management to the County Council. That the Committee and Sub-Committee hold office in each case for the term of the appointing body.

4. That each Rural and Urban District shall contribute towards the expenses of the County Home on a capitation basis.

5. That the County Council supply the Committee of Management with the necessary funds for the administration of the County Cavan Home on an annual estimate and demand made by the Committee of Management on the County Council, the procedure provided by Article 45 of the Union Accounts Order, 1905, to be adopted for this purpose. That for the present financial year the County Council, on a demand from the Committee of Management, advance from time to time as may be required such sums of money as will be sufficient to meet the requirements of the new Home, and that, if necessary, the County Council obtain from An Dáil a loan to enable these advances to be made. That the Accounts of the Committee of Management be audited half-yearly by an Auditor appointed by An Dáil, and the existing enactments and regulations as to audit be adopted accordingly.

6. That a Stocktaker be appointed as soon as possible to value the articles taken from the various Unions to furnish the County Cavan Home, and that each Union be credited with the value of such stock taken. That the fee of such Stocktaker be paid by the Committee of Management of the Home.

7. That the Committee of Management immediately undertake an investigation into the question of out-door relief as at present dispensed in each Union with a view to devising a more economic and more efficient system, and to ensure that persons so assisted are entitled thereto.

8. That the appointments of officials for the County Home be made by the Committee of Management, subject to the approval of the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann, provided that, in the case of the appointment of an official who is entitled to or is receiving a superannuation allowance or gratuity under the Scheme, such official must, as a condition of appointment, waive all claim to superannuation; or if a gratuity has been given, must refund to the County Council the amount of such gratuity.

9. That all officers entitled to superannuation, and whose offices will be abolished under the Amalgamated Scheme, be superannuated. That each officer whose service is over ten years be granted a superannuation at the rate of one-sixtieth of his or her present salary and emoluments for each year's service. For the purpose of this Article the length of service is to be taken as the actual number of years such officer has served with the addition of 25 per cent. of such actual service—provided that in no case shall the superannuation exceed two-thirds of the present salary and emoluments of such officer. This addition of 25 per cent. to the number of years service is granted as compensation for the abolition of office, and the officials whose Offices are abolished are to have no further claim for loss of Office beyond what is provided for in this Article. On this Scheme being sanctioned the Boards of Guardians shall give the necessary notice of abolition of office to each official concerned, and should pass a resolution granting to such officials a superannuation or a gratuity as the case may be, on the basis laid down by this Article.

In the case of an Officer entitled to a gratuity whose actual service is 10 years or less and whose office is to be abolished under the Amalgamation Scheme, the scale of gratuity as laid down in the seventh Schedule of the Local Government Ireland Act, 1898, to be applicable, and reckoned on the salary and emoluments of such officer on the date of abolition of his office. The payment of the gratuities shall, at the discretion of the County Council, be extended over a period not exceeding five years, payable quarterly. Officers who are thus compensated shall have no further claim for loss of office.

10. That as soon as practicable all idiots, imbeciles and epileptics at present in the different workhouses of the county, shall, by arrangement between the Committee of Management and the Joint Committee of Monaghan Lunatic Asylum, be transferred to the Monaghan Asylum or the Auxiliary at Cootehill.

11. That Dispensary Doctors and District Maternity Nurses continue to discharge their duties in their respective Dispensary Districts which shall remain unaltered.

12. That all applications for Outdoor Relief be vouched by a member of the Sub-Committee.

13. That the Committee of Management shall as soon as the Scheme has received the sanction of the County Council and the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann, make, with as little delay as possible, the necessary arrangements for transferring the inmates in Bawnboy, Bailieborough, Granard and Trim Workhouses, in accordance with the Scheme, to the County Home.

14. That the two motor ambulances be kept at the County Home. That the working out of the further details of the scheme be left in the hands of the Committee of Management.

Amendment of Scheme in force from 25th March, 1922:—

"That the Cavan County Infirmary be included in sphere of operations of the County Home Committee, and that the Union Amalgamation Scheme be amended accordingly."

CLARE COUNTY SCHEME.

PUBLIC HEALTH ADMINISTRATION.

It is decided

(1) That the County of Clare be a unit for purposes of Public Health administration and that Limerick No. 2 (to be known in future as Meelick Rural District) be incorporated with the County.

(2) That all Public Health services in the County be co-ordinated under one Authority, namely, the County Board of Health, whose decisions shall be subject to review and sanction of the County Council, and which on behalf of the County Council will exercise general supervision and control of

( a ) Public Health Institutions.

( b ) The County Medical Staff.

( c ) The County Nursing Staff.

( d ) Public Health Inspectors.

( e ) Home Assistance.

(3) That the County Board of Health consisting of 30 members be composed as follows:—

10 County Councillors appointed by the County Council.

9 Chairmen of Rural District Councils.

2 Chairmen of Urban District Councils.

4 Persons nominated by the County Council.

3 Representatives of the County Insurance Committee.

2 Representatives of the County Medical Association.

(4) That all Public Health Powers hitherto vested in the Board of Guardians be transferred to the County Board of Health, and that the County Board of Health carry out its functions (according to the nature of the function) through

( a ) Sub-Committees of its members (supplemented by non-members when needed).

( b ) The local elected bodies (Rural and Urban Councils),

( c ) Representatives of a group of local elected bodies.

PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTIONS.

(7) The Mental Hospital. (No change).

(8) The County Central Home.

(Ennis Workhouse to be used for this purpose—the body of the house being set apart for aged, infirm, and chronic Hospital cases, the whole line of low buildings known as "the sheds" being reserved for harmless insane, and the Hospital Wards in the detached building where the Convent is located being reserved for cases of Tuberculosis).

(9) The County Nursery.

(Portion of Kilrush Workhouse to be used for this purpose).

(10) The District Hospitals.

(Hospitals to be retained at Ennis, Ennistymon, Kilrush and Scarriff. In the case of Ennis the Hospital will be located in the building now known as the County Infirmary and the Fever Hospital will be as heretofore.

In the case of Kilrush, the County Board of Health will consider the advisability of utilising the "men's sheds" at the Workhouse side as the future Fever Hospital.

(11) The Inter-County Sanitorium.

The present Sanatorium to be kept open, and the existing scheme for the treatment of Tuberculosis to be continued until such time as an Inter-County Sanitorium be established.

COMMITTEES OF MANAGEMENT.

(12) Mental Hospital.

(The Committee to remain as at present but to be under the general supervision of the County Board of Health, to which body it will submit its estimate, and also half-yearly reports on the general condition of the patients.

(13) The County Central Home.

The Committee to consist of the eleven Chairmen of Rural and Urban Councils on the County Board of Health and five others appointed by the County Board of Health of whom three may be non-members.

(14) The County Nursery.

A Sub-Committee of seven appointed by the County Board of Health, one of these seven being a Doctor and two at least being ladies—the Sub-Committee to have no power to incur expense other than specified routine expenditure without the sanction of the County Board of Health.

(15) The District Hospital Committees.

( a ) Ennis District Hospital—the Committee to consist of:

6 Members appointed by Ennis Rural District Council.

2 Members appointed by Ennis Urban Council.

4 Members appointed by Corofin Rural District Council.

3 Members appointed by the County Board of Health.

( b ) Kilrush District Hospital—the Committee to consist of:

6 Members appointed by Kilrush Rural District Council.

2 Members appointed by Kilrush Urban Council.

4 Members appointed by Killadysert Rural District Council.

3 Members appointed by the County Board of Health.

( c ) Ennistymon District Hospital—the Committee to consist of

7 Members appointed by Ennistymon Rural District Council.

5 Members appointed by Ballyvaughan Rural District Council.

3 Members appointed by County Board of Health.

( d ) Scarriff District Hospital—the Committee to consist of:—

4 Members appointed by the Meelick Rural District Council.

4 Members appointed by the Scarriff Rural District Council.

4 Members appointed by the Tulla Rural District Council.

3 Members appointed by the County Board of Health.

Provided that each County Councillor resident in a District Hospital area shall ex-officio be a member of the District Hospital Committee in addition to the number of members specified.

(16) In the case of Kilrush, Ennistymon and Scarriff District Hospitals the present Clerks will act as Secretaries to the Hospital Committees, and the existing Registrar and Accountants at the Clare County Infirmary will continue to hold corresponding offices in the Ennis District Hospital (County Infirmary Buildings) until the said Hospital is in full working order.

ADMISSION TO PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTIONS.

(18) Mental Hospital—Admission on a Committal Warrant signed in presence of each other by a Medical Practitioner and two Brehons.

(Harmless Insane and Chronic Cases to be refused as far as possible).

(19) The Central Home—Admission on a certificate signed by three "recognised" persons, and containing a solemn declaration to the effect that the aged or infirm person—

( a ) is unable to take care of himself.

( b ) has no home, and no responsible relative able to care him.

( c ) has no friend, distant relative, or other person in the parish who will give him a home in consideration of a grant.

[The persons whose signatures to the declaration will be "recognised" are Clergymen, Medical Practitioners, Brehons, County Councillors, and Rural and Urban Councillors, the three signatures being of different classes].

(20) Prior to admission the aged or infirm person, if he be in receipt of a pension or other allowance, must—

( a ) Sign an agreement handing over the pension or grant, or pay 10s. per week or according to pension to the Committee of Management of the Central Home.

( b ) Sign an order authorising the Clerk of the Home to draw the pension or grant in his behalf.

[No person to be admitted until it is proved conclusively that he cannot be maintained in his own parish].

(21) District Hospitals —Admission—The Matron shall be instructed before admitting a patient

( a ) To require an order signed by a qualified Medical Practitioner stating the disease and the probable length of time for which the patient will have to remain.

( b ) To require signature by the patient (or by patient's responsible relative) of an agreement according to the prescribed form, to pay cost of maintenance in proportion to his valuation on the scale fixed, or according to his means.

( c ) In case of patients who have no property to inquire whether they are insured against illness, or whether they are in receipt of a pension from any source.

( d ) To enter in the register the full name and address both of the patient and of his responsible relative and the amount of his valuation (or the amount of his pension).

( 22 ) Persons who go outside their own Hospital must pay the standard fees for maintenance, etc.

THE COUNTY MEDICAL STAFF.

(23) The County Board of Health to have general direction and control, and to evolve a County Scheme of Medical Service in consultation with the County Medical Association.

The County Board of Health shall fix—

(1) the number and nature of the offices to be filled, the Officer to live in his District and duplication of jobs to involve less salary.

(2) the number of the members required on the County Medical Staff.

(3) the salaries (in reference to future appointments).

(4) the redistribution of areas in certain cases, or readjustment of salary.

(5) the position of members of the medical staff in regard to the District Hospitals.

In general the County Board of Health shall have the selection of Medical Officers for the County Medical Staff, and the appointment of members of the Medical Staff to the various positions, providing if possible for automatic promotion.

[N.B.—Medical men will not be expected to act as Sanitary Inspectors].

THE COUNTY NURSING STAFF.

(24) The above principles shall apply with certain variations.

At least 5 of the Nursing Staff shall be trained to nurse Fever cases.

In future only Nurses with Medical and Surgical training shall be admitted to the County Nursing Staff.

A Nurse with Surgical and Medical training shall be located in districts remote from the Hospitals.

The Nursing Staff of the Hospitals shall be liable to temporary transfer to other Hospitals than the one in which they are employed in case of need, but they shall not be liable for District Nursing.

OTHER OFFICERS OF PUBLIC HEALTH.

(25) The Relieving Officerships shall be abolished (see "Home Assistance.")

(26) The office of Sub-Sanitary Officer shall be abolished.

(27) There shall be in each Urban Council and Rural Council area one Public Health Inspector (not a Medical Officer) who will get a short course of training in his duties, which shall include supervision of Home Assistance, and who will be available to fulfil other duties for the Council.

HOME ASSISTANCE.

(31) The County Board of Health, on behalf of the County Council, shall exercise general supervision and control of "Home Assistance."

(37) The County Board of Health shall appoint some responsible person in each parish or the President of St. Vincent de Paul Society in towns, to whom cheque for total amount to be distributed each week in the parish can be sent with the names of recipients and receipt forms for the amount due, to be signed by them on getting the money—these signed receipts to be returned to the Clerk of the Local Council. The qualification for Home Assistance shall be same as for admission to the County Central Home.

(38) To facilitate distribution the responsible person shall appoint some other reliable person or persons in each chapel area in the parish to visit the homes of those in receipt of assistance.

(39) In case of parishes where very small amounts are distributed the cheque can be sent to the responsible person once a month, and the money can be given out each week.

SUPERANNUATION.

(43) Officers who lose their positions under the Scheme shall get superannuation allowances in accordance with what the Public Body concerned thinks just in each individual case.

(44) Existing Officers to get any available positions, subject to the discretion of the Public Body concerned.

(45) Officers who accept a position under the County Council or other local authority equal to that which they have lost should get no superannuation.

(46) Officers who unreasonably refuse to accept a position in their own locality, and which they could fill as easily as their former position should get no superannuation.

(47) Superannuation should cease if the person leaves Ireland. As far as possible only the older officials should be superannuated.

(47a)All appointments to be made by promotion and examination in accordance with a scheme to be adopted by this Council at their next meeting.

(48) That the expenses of the following be County-at-Large Charges:—

( a ) The Mental Hospital.

( b ) The Tuberculosis Scheme.

( c ) The Central Home for Aged, Infirm, etc.

( d ) The County Nursery.

( e ) The County Board of Health.

( f ) The salaries of the County Medical and Nursing Staff.

( g ) The salaries of the Public Health Inspectors.

( h ) Superannuation of Officers retired under the Scheme. (Superannuation to be under the control of the County Board of Health).

(49) That the expenses of the District Hospitals be charged to the areas served by the Hospitals, viz.:—

( a ) Ennis District Hospital.—The Rural District of Ennis, Corofin, and the Urban District of Ennis.

( b ) Ennistymon District Hospital.—The Rural District of Ballyvaughan and Corofin.

( c ) Kilrush District Hospital.—The Rural Districts of Killadysert

( d ) Scarriff District Hospital.—The Rural Districts of Meelick, and Kilrush, and the Urban District of Kilrush. Scarriff and Tulla.

(50) That the following be District Charges:—

(1) The cost of Home Assistance (formerly Outdoor Relief).

(2) All other business transferred from Boards of Guardians to the Rural District Councils.

(51) That as regards the Ballyvaughan Rural District the maximum rate under the scheme be 4s. in the £, in consideration of its low rate for Union Charges hitherto.

(52) That after payment of its District liabilities, the next charge on the 4s. rate in the Ballyvaughan Rural District shall be in respect of the District Hospital at Ennistymon.

(53) That if the amount of money produced by the rate of 4s. in the £ in the Ballyvaughan Rural District be insufficient to meet the liabilities of that District under all charges, the deficiency be raised over the remaining Districts of the County in proportion to their respective valuations.

(54) That in normal times each District will get full credit for its grants as heretofore, and in the meantime the loss of such grants must be made up by rates to be levied in such Districts.

FINANCE.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES.

(55) The local Councils and the Committees of Management will present their estimates to the County Board of Health which will supervise them, and calculate the amount of the Public Health rate payable by the responsible Rural and Urban areas, previous to submitting the general Public Health estimate to the County Council.

(56) Salaries of officers shall be paid by the County Board of Health through the medium of the local Councils and Committees under whose direct supervision the officers fulfil their duties.

(57) Proposals involving increases of salary shall be dealt with only at the December meeting, notice of motion having been given and published in all cases at the November meeting—increases (if granted by the County Board of Health) to take effect from the beginning of the next financial year.

BOARDS OF GUARDIANS.

(64) The Hospital Committee will control all matters pertaining to the management of the District Hospitals.

(65) The District and Urban Councils on behalf of and under the general direction of the County Board of Health will exercise immediate supervision in their respective areas over:—

( a ) District Medical Attendance.

( b ) District Nursing Arrangements.

( c ) Sanitary Inspection.

( d ) Granting of Home Assistance to aged, infirm and destitute.

( e ) Boarding-out of children and the supervision of their treatment.

( f ) Care of Closed Institutions (if any).

( g ) Registration, Vaccination and provision of Medicine in Dispensaries.

(66) In addition the Local Councils will have due representation on the County Board of Health, on Central Home Committee, on District Hospitals Committees, and on all Sub-Committees of the County Board of Health where their special interests are involved.

GALWAY COUNTY SCHEME.

The Executive Committee shall consist of five members of the County Council, who shall have power to co-opt two additional members.

CENTRAL COUNTY HOSPITAL.

1. There shall be established at Galway a Central County Hospital, with Medical, Surgical, Fever, and Maternity Departments. All inmates in existing Union Hospitals shall be transferred to the Central County Hospital on a date to be fixed by the Executive Committee appointed by the County Council, and on the completion of such transfer the existing Union Hospitals shall be closed.

CENTRAL COUNTY HOME.

2. There shall be temporarily established at Loughrea a Central County Home for Old and Infirm Persons, and there shall be transferred to the Central County Home on a date to be fixed by the Executive Committee all inmates of existing Union Workhouses who are not otherwise provided for under this Scheme, and on the completion of such transfer the existing Union Workhouses shall be closed. The selection of Loughrea to be for a period of twelve months when location may be revised.

COUNTY HOME FOR CHILDREN.

3. The Union Hospital Buildings and appurtenances of one of the abolished Unions shall be set aside for a County Home for Children, and for such unmarried Mothers as come within Class (a) of Article 4 hereof. The premises shall be handed over, in trust for the County Council, to such Religious Community as shall undertake to take charge of the said County Home for Children, upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed on between the said community and the Executive Committee.

UNMARRIED MOTHERS.

4. Unmarried Mothers are divided into two classes:—

( a ) First offenders, to be dealt with in the same institution as children.

( b ) Old offenders to be sent to Magdalen Asylum.

Unmarried Mothers who come within Class (b) shall be offered an opportunity of relief and retrievement in the Magdalen Asylum, Galway, upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed on between the Executive Committee and the Sisters in Charge of the Magdalen Asylum. If necessary the Committee may make arrangements with other Institutions.

Persons in Class (b) who refuse to enter such Institutions as may be selected shall not be allowed under any circumstances to become chargeable to the public rates.

INSANE AND EPILEPTIC INMATES OF UNION WORKHOUSES.

5. Harmless Lunatics or Epileptic Persons at present inmates of Union Workhouses shall be transferred to the Central County Home. Special arrangements for dealing with such cases will subsequently be made by the Executive Committee.

TEMPORARY HOME ASSISTANCE TO DISTRESSED PERSONS.

6. The County Council will provide annually a sum not exceeding in any one year the sum produced by a rate of 6d. in the £. This sum will be available to provide assistance in money or kind to distressed persons who are not inmates of any Institution maintained out of the rates, and will be administered by the Executive Committee on the recommendation of a Parish Committee, consisting of the Parish Priest and three Parish Justices. Relief under this clause can only be given in accordance with such regulations as may be made in that behalf by the Local Government Department. In parishes in which Conferences of St. Vincent De Paul exist such Conferences may be selected as the Recommending Committee.

BOARDING-OUT OF BOYS.

7. Boys on reaching the age of nine years may either be Boarded-out, or placed in an Industrial School, but if suitable foster-parents can be found boys shall not be sent to an Institution. The regulations governing Boarding-out are such as may be adopted by the Local Government Department.

DISPENSARY DOCTORS AND MATERNITY NURSES.

8. Dispensary Doctors and District Maternity Nurses shall continue to discharge their duties as heretofore in their respective Districts. Upon the request of the Executive Committee the Local Government Department may, after enquiry, by Order under the Seal of the Department re-arrange or alter existing Dispensary Districts.

SUPERANNUATION OF DISEMPLOYED OFFICIALS.

9. Officers of Boards of Guardians whose employment is terminated by reason of this Scheme shall be entitled to superannuation or gratuity in accordance with the provisions of Circulars 52, 53, and 55 of the Local Government Department.

APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS OF COUNTY HOME AND CENTRAL COUNTY HOSPITAL.

10. The Executive Committee shall appoint such officers and servants as they may consider necessary for the efficient conduct of the business of the Central Home and Central Hospital, and fix the salaries and allowances appertaining to such appointments subject to the sanction of the Local Government Department. All such appointments shall be forthwith reported to the County Council. Any appointment which is not ratified by the County Council at the meeting immediately succeeding the receipt of the report shall on the date of such meeting cease to be effective.

In filling offices under this scheme preference shall, where possible, be given to existing officers whose offices are abolished by the scheme, provided that in the case of an official who is entitled to or is receiving a superannuation allowance or gratuity under the scheme such official must, as a condition of appointment, waive all claim to superannuation or gratuity, or, if a gratuity has been paid, must refund to the County Council the amount of such gratuity.

The conditions and tenure of such appointments under the scheme shall be fixed by the Executive Committee subject to the sanction of the Local Government Department. At least ten days' notice shall be given of all appointments by advertisement in a newspaper in the county, and in one Dublin daily newspaper.

OFFICES ABOLISHED UNDER THIS SCHEME.

11. As from the 31st December, 1921, all Offices under the Poor Law Guardians of the Unions of Ballinasloe, Clifden, Galway, Glenamaddy, Gort, Loughrea, Mountbellew, Oughterard, Portumna, and Tuam, with the exception of the Offices mentioned in Clause 8 of this scheme shall be abolished, and the Boards of Guardians of the Unions mentioned shall, as from the 31st December, 1921, cease to function.

POWERS OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

12. The Executive Committee shall administer all business arising under Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 of this scheme. Any business hitherto discharged by Boards of Guardians which is not, under this scheme, transferred to the Executive Committee shall be administered by the District Councils or otherwise as the County Council, with the sanction of the Local Government Department, may determine.

ANNUAL BUDGET.

13. The Executive Committee shall submit their Annual Estimate and Demand to the County Council for the amount required for the service of the ensuing year on or before the 1st January.

A Special Meeting of the Executive Committee shall be summoned on or before the 18th December in each Financial Year at which the Secretary shall submit his Estimate of the Liabilities of the Executive Committee for the ensuing Financial Year, and the Committee shall by resolution to be recorded on the Minutes of the Meeting adopt the same with or without amendments, and shall thereupon make an Estimate and Demand in the prescribed form, under their Seal for the amount required, and shall transmit same forthwith to the Co. Council and shall also transmit a certified copy to the Local Government Department.

For the remainder of the Financial Year ending March 1922, the County Council shall advance to the Committee such sums as shall be deemed necessary to finance the County Institutions and services established by this scheme.

TREASURER.

14. The Executive Committee shall open an Account with the Treasurer of the County Council to which Account all Funds of the Committee shall be lodged.

AUDIT.

15. The Accounts of the Committee shall be audited half-yearly by the Auditor of the Local Government Department, or otherwise in accordance with such Orders or Regulations as may be made by that Department.

ORDERS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT.

16. The Executive Committee shall be bound by all Standing Orders and Regulations as may be issued by the Local Government Department.

OFFICIALS RESPONSIBLE FOR UNION PROPERTY.

17. Existing Officials of Boards of Guardians will be held responsible for all Union Property in their charge until such property is formally handed over either to a duly appointed representative of the Committee, or to the County Council. Copy of Stocktakers' return to last available date to be applied for from each Union.

AREA OF CHARGE FOR RATING PURPOSES.

18. The "Union" as an administrative area shall, for Poor Relief purposes, cease to exist as from the 31st December, 1921. All Funds required for the purposes of this scheme shall be raised by a rate to be levied equally over the County of Galway.

TRANSITORY PROVISION.

19. During the transition period any point or difficulty arising under the scheme, and not specifically provided for therein, shall be dealt with as the Executive Committee, with the sanction of the Local Government Department, may determine.

DUTIES OF OFFICERS OF CENTRAL COUNTY HOME AND CENTRAL COUNTY HOSPITAL

CENTRAL COUNTY HOME.

Secretary: Shall be a Whole-time Officer (except in the case of the Secretary first appointed), responsible to the Executive Committee for seeing that all work, clerical and otherwise, is efficiently carried out. As Principal Executive Officer of the Home, he shall be responsible for all records, accounts, and correspondence in connection therewith. He shall act as Clerk to any Committee which may be appointed to administer the Central Home, Children's Home and Home Assistance Fund, and shall carry out their orders, and be responsible for all financial work as soon as same is transferred to a Home Committee, and, in the meantime, he shall carry out the orders of the Executive Committee. He shall enter into a bond conditioned in a penalty of £500 with two solvent sureties, or give the bond of a Guarantee Society, for the due discharge of the duties of his office. The names and written consent of the proposed Guarantors must accompany applications for the post.

Storekeeper and House Steward: Whole-time officer responsible to the Executive Committee for general supervision of the Home; responsible for all public property in the Institution, and for the due accounting for all supplies received into the Home. He shall not issue any Stores unless a requisition on the prescribed form is presented to him, and he shall retain all requisitions and present same to the Auditor. He shall give such assistance as may be required by the Secretary in the checking of accounts and certifying amounts due to tradesmen, contractors, etc., and shall perform, all such other duties as may from time to time be prescribed by the Executive Committee or The Homes and Home Assistance Committee. He shall enter into a bond conditioned as in the case of the Secretary.

Matron: Responsible for all House-keeping arrangements, and for the supervision of the Staff, Cooking, etc., and for the entire disciplinary arrangements of the Home. She shall be personally responsible for all stock issued to her from the Store, and shall issue and sign a requisition to the Storekeeper for all stores required. She shall enter into a bond conditioned in a penalty of £200 with two sureties or a Guarantee Society, for the due performance of the duties of the Office.

CENTRAL COUNTY HOSPITAL

Secretary: Shall be a Whole-time Officer responsible to the Executive Committee for seeing that all work, clerical or otherwise, is efficiently carried out. As Principal Executive Officer of the Hospital, he shall be responsible for all records, accounts, and correspondence in connection therewith. He shall act as Clerk to any Committee which may be appointed to administer the Hospital, and shall carry out their orders, and be responsible for all financial work as soon as same is transferred to a Hospital Committee, and, in the meantime, shall carry out the orders of the Executive Committee. He shall enter into a bond conditioned in a penalty of £500, with two solvent sureties or give the bond of a Guarantee Society, for the due discharge of the duties of his office. The names and written consent of the proposed Guarantors must accompany applications for the post. He shall be held responsible for the recovery of accounts due to the Hospital by paying patients or others.

Storekeeper: Whole-time Officer responsible to the Executive Committee for general supervision of the Hospital. Responsible for all public property in the Institution and for the due accounting for all supplies received into the Hospital. He shall not issue any Stores unless a requisition on the prescribed form is presented to him, and he shall retain all requisitions, and present same to the Auditor. He shall give such assistance as may be required by the Secretary in the checking of accounts and certifying amounts due to tradesmen, contractors, etc., and shall perform all such other duties as may from time to time be prescribed by the Executive Committee. He shall enter into a bond conditioned as in the case of the Secretary.

Matron: Responsible for all Housekeeping arrangements, and for the supervision of the Staff, cooking, etc., and for the entire disciplinary arrangements of the Hospital. She shall be personally responsible for all stock issued to her from the Store, and shall issue and sign a requisition to the Storekeeper for all Stores required. She shall enter into a bond conditioned in a penalty of £200 with two Sureties or a Guarantee Society, for the due performance of the duties of the office. She shall have no responsibility in regard to nursing, and shall not interfere in any way in regard to treatment of patients.

She shall exercise supervision over discipline in the Institution, and shall see that both officers and patients obey the rules of the Hospital, and shall report any dereliction of duty to the Executive Committee.

Head Nurse: To bring under the special notice of the Medical Officer every patient as soon as possible after admission into the sick wards.

To be responsible for the good nursing of the sick, and for the satisfactory discharge of the duties of the Nursing Staff, and for the carrying out of the directions of the Medical Officer with respect to all medicines and medical appliances.

To inform the Medical Officer without any avoidable delay of any defects that may be observed in connection with the arrangements for the care and nursing of the sick, including their clothing and diet.

To send a notification in writing to the Secretary and Matron of the Hospital whenever the condition of any patient demands that the Medical Officer, the Chaplain, or the relatives of such patient should be sent for or communicated with.

To see that everything connected with the patients and the wards is kept clean and in proper condition, and also to take care that all wards are duly ventilated, warmed and lighted.

To see that the food is properly distributed to the patients, and to arrange that each patient receives the special treatment ordered by the Medical Officer, and generally to carry out all reasonable directions of the Medical Staff, to whom alone she shall be subordinate, in regard to treatment of patients.

In the absence of the Medical Officer, to exercise general supervision and control over the Nurses, Wardsmaids, and Attendants, and to maintain proper order and discipline in the sick wards in her charge.

House Surgeon and Physician: Shall be responsible for the Medical and Surgical care of all patients in the Hospital, and for the keeping of all such records as may be required to be kept by him.

KERRY COUNTY SCHEME.

1. That on a date to be appointed by the Committee of Management which day shall be as early as the necessary preliminary arrangements will admit, the six general Workhouses in Kerry (with the exception of the portion of each Workhouse known at present as the Workhouse Hospital) shall be abolished as Workhouses, and the scheme set out hereunder shall come into effect.

2. That one Central Home for Kerry to be known as the Kerry County Home, be established in the building at present used as a Workhouse and Hospital in Killarney; such Home to provide accommodation for the aged and infirm homeless poor, for chronic cases, expectant mothers (unmarried) and for such children admittable to the Home from the County Kerry as cannot be boarded out.

3. That a scheme be prepared for the establishment of a Central County Hospital in the building at present used as a Workhouse and Hospital in Tralee, with small local branch Hospitals for urgent cases only, to be set up in such other parts of Kerry as may be decided on.

4. That the Committee of Management (vide No. 5) immediately undertake an investigation into the question of outdoor relief as at present dispensed in each Union:—

To inquire into the circumstances of the persons and families in receipt of outdoor relief, as to whether they are properly entitled to same, and if the amount granted be correct; as to the cost entailed in the distribution of outdoor relief; and as to the method of distribution, with a view to devising a more economic and more efficient system, and to ensure that persons so assisted are entitled thereto. That the term "outdoor relief" be abandoned and the term "temporary allowance" be substituted therefor.

5. That the Committee of Management of the Home consist of 18 members, and be appointed by the County Council, 12 members of the said Committee to be members of the County Council. Where vacancies occur, that same be filled by the County Council. That the Committee hold office for the term of office of the County Council that appoints them, and up to the date of the first annual meeting of the new County Council. That the appointment of the first Committee be made by the present County Council at its first meeting held after this Scheme of Amalgamation has been duly adopted and finally sanctioned by the Local Government Department, Dáil Eireann, and that the first Committee continue in office until their successors are appointed. That the quorum for meetings of such Committee be four.

6. That the Home be managed by the above Committee, and that the regulations governing the business of such Home be made by the Committee of Management subject to sanction of Local Government Department.

7. That all appointments of officials for Kerry County Home be made by Committee of Management, subject to sanction of Local Government Department.

8. That the County Council supply the Committee of Management with the necessary funds for the administration of the Kerry County Home on an annual estimate and demand made by the Committee of Management on the County Council, and the procedure provided by Article 45 of the Union Accounts Order, 1905, be adapted for this purpose. That for the present financial year the County Council on a demand from the Committee of Management advance from time to time as may be required such sums of money as will be sufficient to meet the requirements of the new Home, and that if necessary, the County Council obtain from An Dáil a loan to enable these advances to be made. That the accounts of the Committee of Management be audited half-yearly by an Auditor appointed by An Dáil and the existing enactments and regulations as to audit be adapted accordingly.

8a. That the Committee of Management furnish quarterly reports to the Kerry County Council.

9. That a Stocktaker be appointed as soon as possible to value the articles taken from the various Unions to furnish the Kerry County Home. That each Union be credited with the value of such stock taken. That articles not required for stocking the Home be left for the use of the Hospitals. That the fee of such Stocktaker be paid by the Committee of Management of the Home.

10. That each Board of Guardians be responsible for the transference of their own inmates to the Home on a date to be fixed by the Committee of Management, failing which the said Committee of Management be empowered to board out children and such other inmates as they consider advisable; to discharge able-bodied persons and to arrange for the transfer of the remainder to the County Home.

11. That all children not boarded out be transferred to the Home on the same day the remainder of the inmates to be removed as soon as possible after children.

12. The following divisions for the Kerry County Home are recommended — (a) boys (b) girls, (c) males (aged and infirm and epileptics), (d) females (aged and infirm and epileptics), (e) males (idiots and imbeciles), (f) females (idiots and imbeciles), (g) expectant mothers (unmarried).

13. "Temporary allowances" to be made to discharged inmates [excluding children, who will be boarded out]. That such inmates be put on the same footing as people at present in receipt of outdoor relief. [The Workhouses will be visited before the date of amalgamation, and all able-bodied inmates be discharged].

BOARDING OUT OF CHILDREN.

14. Children to be boarded out where possible. Amount to be allowed for boarded-out children shall be decided by Committee of Management of Kerry County Home. Where it is not possible to board out children it is desirable that instead of provision being made for their education in the Home that they be sent to the National Schools.

15. That the present Boards of Guardians cease to function as from date named by Committee of Management under Article I.

16. That on the amalgamation of the Workhouses control of present Workhouse Hospitals, and all other matters hitherto dealt with by the Boards of Guardians, and not so far provided for in the scheme, be administered by a sub-committee for each Union, consisting of five members, of whom three must be members of the Committee of Management. That such Committees be appointed by the Committee of Management, three to form a quorum. These sub-committees shall be under the direct control of the Committee of Management. These sub-committees shall have only recommendary powers. All payments and appointments shall be made by the Committee of Management. Such Committees can be dispensed with at any time on getting through their Clerk one month's notice in writing from the Committee of Management.

17. Status of existing officers [Workhouse and Workhouse Hospital Officials]—That only purely Hospital Officials and Relieving Officers be retained, that all others be retired.

SUPERANNUATION OF OFFICERS.

18. That all officers entitled to superannuation, and whose offices will be abolished under the Amalgamation Scheme, be superannuated. That each officer whose service is over ten years be granted a superannuation at the rate of one-sixtieth of his or her present salary and emoluments for each year's service. For the purposes of this Article the length of service is to be taken as the actual number of years such officer had served, with the addition of 50 per cent. of such actual service—provided that in no case shall the superannuation exceed two-thirds of the present salary and emoluments of such officer—this addition of 50 per cent. of the number of years' service is granted as compensation for the abolition of office, and the officials whose offices are abolished are to have no further claim for loss of office beyond what is provided for in this Article. On this scheme being sanctioned the Boards of Guardians shall give the necessary notice of abolition of office to each official concerned, and should pass a resolution granting to such officials a superannuation based on this Article.

In the case of an officer entitled to a gratuity whose actual service is ten years or less, and whose office is to be abolished under the Amalgamation Scheme, the scale of gratuity as laid down in the seventh schedule of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, be applicable, and reckoned on the salary and emoluments of such officer on the date of abolition of his office. The payment of gratuities shall, at the discretion of the County Council, be extended over a period not exceeding five years, payable quarterly. Officers who are thus compensated shall have no further claim for loss of office, and the procedure as regards termination of appointments and grant of gratuities and compensation shall be as set out above in the case of superannuations and compensations.

19. That as from the day fixed under Article 1, all costs, charges and expenditure be charged on the County at large.

KILDARE COUNTY SCHEME.

1. That County Kildare be a unit for the purpose of the administration of the duties heretofore performed by the Boards of Guardians and kindred services in the county be co-ordinated under, and administered by one Authority on behalf of the County Council, and it shall be known as the County Board of Health. That all proceedings of the County Board of Health shall be subject to the approval of the Local Government Department of Dail Eireann.

2. That the County Board of Health shall consist of thirty-four members, sixteen of whom shall be County Councillors, appointed by the County Council; sixteen District Councillors, three of whom shall be appointed by Naas No. 1 R.D.C., three by Athy No. 1 R.D.C., three by Celbridge No. 1 R.D.C., three by Edenderry No. 2 R.D.C., two by Athy Urban District Council, and two by Naas Urban District Council; one representative to be appointed by the County Insurance Committee, and one representative by the County Medical Association, who shall not be a public servant.

3. That the quorum for meetings of the County Board of Health shall be seven.

4. That the County and District Councillors appointed on the County Board of Health shall continue to serve as members of the Board only so long as they continue in office as such Councillors during the term of office of the Council by whom they were appointed, and up to the date of the first annual meeting of such Council. The remaining two members appointed by the County Insurance Committee and County Medical Association, respectively, shall retire with the other members of the Board.

5. That the appointment of members constituting the first County Board of Health be made by the existing Councils, and the other bodies as above, within 28 days after it has been notified to them that this Scheme has been duly adopted and finally sanctioned by the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann.

6. That in addition to the control and management of any Home, Hospital, or other Institution set up or established pursuant to this Scheme, all powers hitherto vested in Boards of Guardians shall be transferred to the County Board of Health except work under the Registrar-General.

7. That the powers hitherto possessed by the existing Board of Guardians in relation to existing Dispensary Medical Officers and District Maternity Nurses, be vested in the County Board of Health. The superannuation of an existing Medical or other Officer of a Dispensary District, part of which is situate in one County and the remaining part situate in an adjoining County shall be based on the valuation of the portions of the dispensary districts situate in each County, and the salaries in future shall be based on area and population.

8. That the County Board of Health, so far as it considers expedient, and subject to the limitations hereafter specified, may carry out its functions through the agency of Committees, whose actions shall be subject to the approval of the County Board of Health.

9. That such Committees shall be appointed by and act under the direct control of the County Board of Health, who shall define the powers and duties of the Committees, and may dispense with such Committees at any time.

10. With a view to availing of the existing organisation the County Board of Health shall constitute the required Committees from the elected representatives of the people for the time being.

11. That all payments when authorised shall be made by the County Board of Health by means of Advice Notes and Paying Orders.

12. That all appointments necessary for the working of this Scheme shall be made by the County Board of Health and subject to sanction by the Local Government Department, but there must be new Elections for new appointments under this Scheme, and the officials receiving such appointments must stand for an examination.

13. That one Central Officer be appointed to act as Secretary to the County Board of Health and to perform such duties as may be prescribed. The County Board of Health to determine what, if any, assistance he may require for the due performance of the duties of his office, and to make provision for such assistance.

14. That on a day to be appointed by the County Board of Health, the Institutions hereinafter provided under this Scheme shall come into being, and for the purpose of financing the Institutions a capite basis be adopted until 1st April, 1922.

15. That on a day also to be appointed by the County Board of Health the Fever Hospital, Athy, and the Workhouse Hospitals at Athy and Celbridge shall be abolished, and the services rendered hitherto by these Institutions shall come under the control of the County Board of Health through the Central County Hospital and County Home, to be established pursuant to paragraphs 16, 17a, and 17b of this Scheme.

16. That one County Home and Infirmary for the aged, infirm and destitute, chronic invalids, and expectant mothers shall be established for County Kildare, and that the Workhouse Buildings at Athy, shall be utilised for the purpose.

17a. That one County Hospital shall be established for County Kildare and that the Workhouse Buildings at Naas shall be utilised for this purpose, and that Private Paying Patients be admitted on terms to be arranged by the County Board of Health.

17b. That one Fever Hospital shall be established for County Kildare, and that the existing Building at Naas be used for the purpose, Private Paying Patients to be admitted on such terms as the County Board of Health may determine.

18. That the system of boarding out shall be applied to all persons eligible for same, and that only those to whom this system cannot be applied shall receive institutional treatment.

19. That the term "Outdoor Relief" shall be discontinued and that the term "Home Help" be substituted therefor.

20. That the Relieving Officers be retained as at present, and that they be called "Home Help Officers," their duties to be defined by the County Board of Health, which shall have power to re-arrange their districts or abolish their offices.

21. Should the County Board of Health exercise their power under this Scheme and abolish the office of Home Help Officer then to meet urgent cases every member of the Committee appointed under this Scheme shall be supplied with Emergency Help Forms, which shall also be used in cases formerly dealt with by Relieving Officers, where it is necessary to provide for burials, or to supply coffins. Just as in cases involving applications for "Home Help" all cases of Emergency Help shall be brought, on the prescribed form, before the next meeting of the Committee for the area concerned.

22. Prior to admission to the County Home, the aged or infirm person, if he (or she) be in receipt of a pension or other allowances must

( a ) Sign an agreement handing over the pension or allowance, or pay 10s. per week or other agreed sum, to the County Board of Health.

( b ) Or sign an order authorising the Secretary to the Board to draw the pension or allowance on his (or her) behalf, and to lodge it to the credit of the County Board of Health.

23. No person to be admitted to the County Home until it is proved conclusively that he (or she) cannot be maintained outside.

24. That each officer of any Board of Guardians, Joint Committee of Management, or other Authority, whose position is affected by this Scheme shall relinquish office on a date to be fixed by the County Board of Health, and shall be paid compensation or superannuation allowance for loss of office, at a rate computed in accordance with the terms of Circulars Nos. 52, 53 and 55 issued by the Minister of Local Government, and dated 27th and 28th September, and 18th October, 1921, respectively. To give effect to this paragraph Boards of Guardians and Joint Committees of Management shall give the necessary notice of abolition of office to each official concerned when such office has not been already abolished, and shall pass a resolution granting to such official compensation or a superannuation allowance computed as defined. Where any existing Officer entitled to a pension is appointed to any Office under the County Board of Health, the payment of such pension shall be suspended so long as he continues to hold such appointment, but this suspension shall not in any way prejudice or diminish his right to receive such pension on his ceasing to hold the appointment under this Scheme, with the appropriate pension for his additional services. Any Officer who refuses an analogous position under the new body, without valid reason, shall not be entitled to compensation for loss of office, but shall be entitled to a pension according to his years of service.

25. That the County Council supply the County Board of Health with the necessary funds for the administration of the duties entrusted to it on an Annual Estimate and Demand made by the Board on the Council in accordance with the procedure provided by Article 45 of the Accounts' Order, 1905, modified and adapted to this purpose. The Annual Estimate to be accompanied by a return showing the number, classification, and cost of persons treated in the different Institutions.

26. The County Council on receipt of Demands from the County Board of Health shall advance from time to time, as may be required, such sums of money as will be sufficient to meet its requirements. For the forthcoming financial year the Council shall accept the Estimates of the existing Boards of Guardians as the Estimates of the County Board of Health.

27. That the Accounts of the County Board of Health shall be audited half-yearly by an Auditor appointed by the Local Government Department, and that existing enactments and regulations as to audit be adapted accordingly. Further, the County Board of Health shall report, as fully as may be required, half-yearly, to the County Council on the several matters entrusted to it under this Scheme.

28. That the area of charge for expenses incurred pursuant to the provisions of this Scheme shall be the County-at-Large.

29. That a Stocktaker be appointed by the County Board of Health to value all articles in the different Institutions affected by the Scheme, and that each Rural and Urban District be credited with the value of such articles as are taken over by the County Board of Health.

30. That upon this Scheme becoming operative all necessary Financial Adjustments shall be made as between Boards of Guardians, Joint Committees of Management, Rural Councils, the County Council, County Board of Health, and the different areas affected on the basis of valuation.

31. That the County Board of Health shall assume responsibility for loans due by the several Boards of Guardians and that all debts be charged to the respective areas of the bodies by which same were incurred.

32. That each Board of Guardians be responsible for the transfer of their own inmates to the County Home or County Hospital, on a date to be fixed by the County Board of Health, failing which the said County Board of Health shall be empowered to board out children and such other inmates as they consider advisable, to discharge able-bodied persons, to arrange for the transfer of the remainder to the County Home or County Hospital, and to do all other things necessary to give effect to the Scheme.

33. That on a date to be fixed by the County Board of Health "Unions" as administrative areas shall be abolished and Boards of Guardians shall cease to function.

34. That the County Board of Health shall, as early as practicable, adopt, subject to sanction by the Department, Standing Orders for the Regulation of Procedure and Business.

35. That the County Board of Health be authorised to make arrangements with any Hospital for the treatment of any Patient.

KILKENNY COUNTY SCHEME.

1. That Thomastown Union be selected as the County Home, for the aged and infirm homeless poor, for chronic cases, expectant mothers (unmarried), and for such children as cannot be boarded-out.

2. That a Central Hospital for the County of Kilkenny be established at Kilkenny Union, County Infirmary and Fever Hospital to be utilised conjointly with same, the necessary structural alterations to be effected.

The following matters are hereby provided for:—

( a ) The closing down of the Urlingford Institution completely, the transference of the aged and infirm, mothers and their children, and expectant mothers to Thomastown, the acute medical and surgical cases to be sent to Kilkenny Hospital.

( b ) The closing down completely of Callan Hospital, and the dispensing with the inmates in the same manner as at Urlingford.

( c ) The aged and infirm, mothers and their children, and expectant mothers, if any, in Kilkenny Hospital to be sent to Thomastown. The acute medical and surgical cases to be removed to the front building, known heretofore as the Schoolhouse. The present building occupied to be vacated.

( d ) The system of transference of chronics, infirm women, and children, etc., is already in effect in Castlecomer, these being sent to Thomastown. This is to continue.

( e ) The keeping open of Castlecomer Hospital for acute cases, surgical and medical, provided a joint guarantee be given by the miners and mine owners, to pay one half cost of maintenance of the institution. Said guarantee to be furnished within six months from the date of approval of this scheme.

( f ) The able-bodied females, healthy, aged, and chronic male and female inmates from the County at present located in Carrick-on-Suir, New Ross, Urlingford, and Waterford Unions be immediately transferred to Thomastown Union.

( g ) That all other existing Hospitals be abolished.

4. Tubercular patients in all Union Hospitals should be sent to Central Sanitorium, Kilkenny.

5. Idiots and mentally afflicted of all Unions to be sent to the County Home at Thomastown where practicable.

6. The cost of maintenance of inmates at Central Home to be average cost per inmate, all expenses of administration, etc., to be taken into account when calculating same. Each Union area to be chargeable with said expenditure in proportion to the number of inmates sent from said area in the County. Out-door Relief to be a District charge.

7. That the County Home and Central Hospital be managed by a Committee, to be known as the County Board of Health, and to consist of the following:—

10 Members of County Council.

8 Chairmen of Rural District Councils, Mayor of Kilkenny.

6 Persons to be nominated by County Council.

3 Clergymen to be nominated by County Council.

1 Medical Doctor.

1 Representative of County Insurance Committee.

Casual Vacancies to be filled by County Council.

LAOIGHIS COUNTY SCHEME.

1. To close the Workhouses at Abbeyleix and Mountmellick.

2. To establish for the whole County a Central Institution at Port Laoighise.

3. The Central Institution to comprise:—

( a ) A Central Hospital for the treatment of Medical and Surgical cases.

( b ) A Fever Hospital.

( c ) A Central Home for the aged, infirm, and for chronic invalids.

4. To retain the present County Infirmary in Port Laoighise for the purpose of the Central Institution.

5. To retain the Hospital at Abbeyleix for the treatment of Medical, Surgical, and Fever cases.

6. To retain the buildings at Mountmellick for the purpose of the Central Home,

7. Medical and surgical cases, as far as possible, to be sent to the County Infirmary.

8. Those changes will involve:—

( a ) The transference from Abbeyleix Workhouse to Mountmellick Workhouse of the aged, infirm, epileptics, idiots, and chronic invalids at present there.

( b ) When the ordinary medical and surgical cases at present in Mountmellick are dismissed no more such cases to be treated there.

( c ) The taking over by Offaly County Hospital and Homes Committee of all inmates in Mountmellick Workhouse chargeable on that County.

( d ) The transference by Kildare County Council to Laoighis of all inmates in Athy Union chargeable on the Laoighis County.

( e ) The transference by North Tipperary County Council of all inmates in Roscrea Union chargeable on Laoighis County.

( f ) And a like provision in the case of Carlow.

9. But, by arrangement with neighbouring counties, urgent sick cases not easily accessible to Abbeyleix Hospital or County Infirmary, e.g., Slievemargy District, may be brought to a near Hospital in Carlow area and charged to Laoighis County at an amount per head. This method to be employed only in extreme cases.

10. Dispensary Districts and Doctors not to be interfered with Doctor's salary, where any readjustment of dispensary area has to take place, to be the subject of adjustment between the County Councils affected by his operations. The County Council in whose area the greater part of a Dispensary lies to pay Doctor's salary, the other Council paying their proportionate amount to Council paying Doctor, as may be agreed upon.

11. Only persons to whom the system of boarding-out or out-door relief cannot be applied to receive institutional treatment. Help to be given to the needy or medical attention to the sick in their homes in all possible cases.

12. The Temporary Central Hospital at Abbeyleix and the Temporary Central Home at Mountmellick, and eventually the Central Institution at Port Laoighise, shall be administered by a Committee of Management, to be known as Hospital or Homes Committees (or any other name which may in the opinion of the County Council be more usefully decided upon), formed after the following manner:—

10 Members to be appointed by the County Council, 3 members by the Rural District Council of Mountmellick, 2 members by the Rural District of Abbeyleix, 1 member each by the Rural District Councils of Athy No. 2, Roscrea No. 3, and Slievemargy.

13. The "Union" as an administrative area to be abolished.

14. Owing to alterations in system of administration, Boards of Guardians to be abolished, the Committee of Management to be responsible for the distribution of Out-door Relief and the other work hitherto done by Boards of Guardians (except work under the Registrar-General).

15. The Rural Districts as at present to be the unit for the purpose of administration under Committee of Management

16. The Rural District Councils to appoint Sub-Committees to deal with applications for Out-door Relief and other work in connection with altered system.

17. Relieving Officership to be abolished. Applications for Out-door Relief to be made on special forms which have been approved by Local Government Department. The bona fides of the applicant to be vouched for by the Councillor living in applicant's neighbourhood. Those applications when inspected by the Sub-Committee of the District to be forwarded with recommendations to the Hospitals and Homes Committee. Payment when authorised to be made by means of Paying Orders. Where necessary and advisable a book containing a number of Paying Orders covering a period to be sent to applicant. The post to be used for transmission.

18. To meet urgent cases every District Councillor to be supplied with Emergency Help Forms. These Forms are also intended for use in cases formerly dealt with by a Relieving Officer, in cases where it is necessary to provide for a burial or to supply a coffin. As in the case of Application for Help (Form H.H.1.) all cases of Emergency Help to be dealt with to be brought before the next Meeting of the Sub-Committee in the area concerned, and in the form prescribed.

FINANCES.

19. Each Rural District to pay all expenses peculiar to itself, charges at County Home and County Hospital to be at per head, as made out at end of each half-year on collective number of days system. In this connection payments made by patients to be credited to the Rural District from which the patients are admitted. In cases of persons admitted to Central Institution not chargeable to any Rural District within the County, those are to be regarded as County-at-large charges

20. Separate account to be kept at Offices (hereinafter referred to) for each Rural District in so far as the operation of the Scheme affects the Rural District.

21. Demands on County Council hitherto made by Boards of Guardians to be made by Hospital and Homes Committee, i.e., Committee of Management, who will receive the money direct from the County Council.

STAFF.

22. Attached to Committee of Management shall be:—

( a ) A Central Officer to act as Clerk to Committee of Management.

( b ) A Central Officer to perform the duties of superintending the distribution of Out-door Relief and inspection of Boarded-out Children.

23. At Temporary Central Hospital at Abbeyleix:—

( a ) Medical Officer.

( b ) A Matron, who must be a fully qualified Nurse, to be responsible for administration of Hospital and to keep the Accounts.

( c ) Nurses and Attendants as may be shown to be required.

( d ) A Porter.

24. At Temporary Central Home, Mountmellick:—

( a ) Matron, to fulfil duties as in Abbeyleix Hospital.

( b ) Assistants as may be shown to be required.

( c ) A Porter.

26. To facilitate adjustment of accounts and to commence new system without encumbrance

Guardians to dismiss all indoor officials, i.e., Medical Officers of Workhouses, Clerks, Masters, Matrons, Relieving Officers, Schoolmasters, and Mistresses, etc., and to superannuate, pension, or compensate those officials.

The Amalgamation Committee or the Committee of Management to have the right to re-appoint under the New System those of the Officials who may be suitable.

Thereupon Guardians to cease to function.

27. Since there can be no question as to the advisability of boarding-out children, present Guardians to be requested pending ratification of details of Scheme to take such steps immediately as are necessary to put that part of the Scheme into effect.

Amendment to Article 12 approved by Minister of Local Government on 30th November, 1922:—

"The Rural District Council of Roscrea No. 3 to be allowed one additional representative, and the Rural District Council of Slievemargy to be allowed two additional representatives. The Committee of Management to have the right to co-opt nine additional members within the administrative area, where it is considered the existing representation is inadequate."

LEITRIM COUNTY SCHEME.

1. On a date to be fixed by the Committee of Management hereinafter mentioned, all the inmates belonging to the County of Leitrim in the Workhouses and Hospitals attached, situated at Ballyshannon, Bawnboy, Carrick-on-Shannon, and Mohill, to be transferred to Manorhamilton Workhouse, which shall be made a Central Institution for the entire County, and shall be called the County Leitrim Home. The County Infirmary at Carrick-on-Shannon and the Fever Hospital attached to the Carrick-on-Shannon Workhouse to be re-established as a District Hospital to serve the southern portion of the County of Leitrim.

2. The Management of the present Workhouse at Manorhamilton shall pass out of the hands of the Manorhamilton Board of Guardians and be transferred to a Committee of Management to consist of fourteen members appointed by the Leitrim County Council, three members by each of the Rural Districts of Manorhamilton and Mohill, two members appointed by the Carrick-on-Shannon No. 1 Rural District Council, and one member each appointed by the Rural Districts of Ballinamore and Kinlough. The Chairman of each Rural District shall, in each case, be one of the representatives to be appointed. The Committee shall co-opt three other members, who shall be women. The Committee when fully constituted, shall, therefore, consist of twenty-seven members; and the number necessary to form a quorum for a meeting shall be seven. Regulations made by the above-named Committee in regard to the Management of the County Home are to be subject to the sanction of the Leitrim County Council and the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann. The term of office of the Committee of Management shall be the same as that of the present County Council, and the Committee of Management shall continue to function up to the date of the first annual meeting of the County Council elected after the present County Council ceases to exist. The first Committee of Management shall hold office for the same period as the present County Council, and succeeding Committees of Management shall be appointed for triennial periods.

The Management of the County Infirmary at Carrick-on-Shannon shall pass out of the hands of the present County Infirmary Committee, and the District Hospital at Carrick-on-Shannon (comprised of the County Infirmary and Fever Hospital, situate at Carrick-on-Shannon, shall be managed by a Sub-Committee appointed by the Committee of Management, subject to the sanction of the Local Government Board Department of Dáil Eireann.

3. A Special Meeting of each body having representation on the Committee of Management of the Leitrim County Home shall be convened to meet on a date to be named for the purpose of appointing representatives on the Committee of Management of the said Home. These Special Meetings shall be held as soon as possible after the Scheme of Amalgamation has been adopted and sanctioned by the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann.

4. That the present Boards of Guardians of the Unions of Manorhamilton, Mohill, and Carrick-on-Shannon shall cease to function from the date of the sanction of the Scheme by the Local Government Department of Dail Eireann, and all matters in connection with Out-door Relief, Medical Charities etc., shall be administered by Sub-Committees, consisting of five members for each Union to be appointed by the Rural District Councils, respectively, two of whom shall be members of the Committee of Management. The Sub-Committee to be appointed in connection with these matters in the Carrick-on-Shannon Union to be appointed by the Carrick-on-Shannon No. 1 Rural District Council.

5. All expenses incurred in connection with the Leitrim County Home and other Institutions established under this Scheme shall be County-at-Large Charges, and raised equally over the entire County.

6. The Committee of Management of the Leitrim County Home shall submit their Annual Estimate and Demand to the Leitrim County Council for its requirements for the ensuing year. A Special Meeting of the said Committee of Management shall be summoned on or before the 16th January in each financial year, at which the Clerk shall submit his Estimate of the Liabilities and requirements of the Committee to be provided for by the County Council during the ensuing financial year, and the Committee shall, by resolution, to be recorded on the minutes of the Meeting, adopt same, with or without amendment, and shall thereupon make and estimate and demand under their seal for the amount required. This demand shall be transmitted to the County Council, and a certified copy of same forwarded to the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann. Should the Committee fail to make such estimate and demand within the specified time, the Clerk of the Committee shall be empowered to furnish his estimate to the Secretary of the Leitrim County Council and to the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann. For the present financial year the Leitrim County Council shall, on demand from the Committee of Management of the Leitrim County Council Home, advance such sums as shall be necessary to finance the Leitrim County Home and District Hospital.

7. The Committee of Management of the Leitrim County Home shall appoint their own Treasurer, which must be a Banking Company.

8. A Stocktaker shall be appointed as soon as possible to value the articles taken from the different Workhouses to furnish the Leitrim County Home. Each Union shall be credited with the value of such stock taken, and the fee of the Stocktaker shall be paid by the Committee of Management of the Leitrim County Home.

9. The Accounts of the Committee of Management of the Leitrim County Home shall be audited half-yearly by an Auditor of the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann, and the existing enactments and regulations as to audit shall be adopted for the present.

10. The Committee of Management of the Leitrim County Home shall adopt such Standing Orders and Regulations as shall be deemed necessary by the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann.

11. The appointment of Officials of the Leitrim County Home shall be made by the Committee of Management, subject to the approval of the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann. The position of Secretary to the Committee of Management to be filled after a qualifying examination at which Irish and Accountancy shall be obligatory subjects. Preference will be given where possible to those whose Office shall be abolished under this Scheme, provided that in the case of an appointment of an official who is entitled to or is receiving a superannuation allowance or gratuity under this Scheme, such official must, as a condition of appointment, waive all claims to superannuation, or if a gratuity has been given, the Official concerned must refund to the Leitrim County Council the amount of such gratuity. All appointments shall be temporary for a period of six months, and the salary attaching to such office shall be subject to revision with the approval of the Local Government Department at the end of that period. The appointment shall then be made permanent, conditional on satisfactory service having been given. Intimation of appointment shall be made through public advertisement, and canvassing shall be regarded as a disqualification.

12. On a date to be fixed by the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann, the Guardians of the Unions of Manorhamilton, Carrick-on Shannon, and Mohill shall call a Special Meeting to terminate the appointments of all Officials and all other employees whose Offices and employment cease simultaneously with the coming into operation of this Scheme. Where the Clerk of the Union is also Clerk of the District Council, his Office as Clerk of the Union shall be abolished, and he shall be superannuated on the salary attaching to that Office. The following Offices and employments are under this Scheme terminated:—Clerk of the Union, Master, Matron, Chaplain, Nurses, Porter Attendants, both Male and Female, Wardsmaids, Medical Officers, and all others who are not specifically mentioned under the above heads.

13. All Officers whose Offices are abolished, and who are entitled to superannuation, shall be superannuated subject to the conditions that in the event of any superannuated Officer obtaining a position under the Leitrim County Council or the Committee of Management of the Leitrim County Home, or any other Public Body in Ireland, he shall forfeit the amount of his superannuation, provided the salary of his or her new position is equal or greater than that amount. All Officers whose Offices have been abolished, and who are not re-employed under the Committee of Management of the Leitrim County Home, shall be superannuated or compensated on the terms of the recent circular on this matter from the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann. Payments of gratuities may be made quarterly or half-yearly should the finances not permit of the payment of a bulk sum. Objections to the amount of each superannuation or gratuity may be referred to the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann, whose decision must be regarded as final.

14. The funds required to carry out the preceding section shall be obtained by way of loan by the Leitrim County Council, and the repayment of the Instalments and Interest thereon shall be a charge upon the central appropriate Rural Districts.

15. Dispensary Doctors and District Maternity Nurses shall continue to discharge their duties as heretofore in their respective Dispensary Districts.

16. The Committee of Management of the Leitrim County Home shall, as soon as this Scheme has obtained the sanction of the Leitrim County Council and the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann, make, with as little delay as possible, the necessary arrangements for transferring the inmates to the Leitrim County Home at Manorhamilton.

17. As regards the question of Workhouse children, the Committee of Management shall be charged with the duty of boarding-out all, or as many as possible, of the institution children. The Sub-Committee, hereinafter mentioned, shall assist the Committee of Management of the Leitrim County Home in the matter of procuring suitable foster-parents in the districts under their control, and shall, report regularly on the condition of the children boarded out. The Committee of Management shall see that the children are boarded-out as soon as possible—no child over the age of three years to be retained in the Leitrim County Home. Should it be found impracticable to board out certain children, the Committee at their discretion may have them transferred to an industrial school or similar institution.

18. As regards the question of expectant mothers and unmarried mothers, a separate department in the central institution will, for the present, have to be set aside to deal with this class.

DETAILS FOR BRINGING SCHEME INTO OPERATION AND MODE OF PROCEDURE IN THIS CONNECTION.

1. The institution at Manorhamilton to comprise:—

( a ) A Hospital for the treatment of medical and surgical cases to be known as the Leitrim County Hospital.

( b ) A Hospital for the treatment of Fever Cases, to be known as the Leitrim Fever Hospital.

( c ) A Home for aged, infirm and chronic invalids.

2 The following improvements are recommended in the Workhouse Buildings at Manorhamilton in order that same may be utilised as a County Hospital and Home:—

( a ) Extension of electric light to all buildings.

( b ) New lavatories and baths in body of house.

( c ) The preparation of wards in the body of the house, which should be made bright and airy.

( d ) The erection of an operation theatre.

( e ) The erection of a disinfecting chamber for the Fever Hospital.

3. In order that the County Infirmary at Carrick-on-Shannon may function as District Hospital, the following improvements are recommended:

( a ) The erection of an operation theatre and steriliser.

( b ) A Ward for Females on the second floor to be prepared.

( c ) The erection of a small ward for the reception of fever cases. In this connection it is recommended that the Fever Hospital attached to the Workhouse at Carrick-on-Shannon be kept furnished for the present, until the fever ward above referred to is complete, after which time the present Fever Hospital attached to the Workhouse buildings at Carrick-on-Shannon be closed.

4. The adoption of this scheme necessarily calls for the following changes in the present administration:—

( a ) The administration of the County Institution at Manorhamilton, the distribution of outdoor relief, and the other work hitherto carried out by the various Boards of Guardians in the County, except work under Registrar-General, be administered by the Committee of Management hereinbefore mentioned.

( b ) Under this scheme the "Union" as an administrative area is abolished.

( c ) Provision to be made for the following staff in the central institution: — i. The Medical Staff of the Leitrim County Home to consist of Medical Officer and Surgeon. ii. A Matron who must be a trained nurse. iii. A requisite number of nurses and attendants. iv. A Secretary to the Committee of Management whose duties will be defined by that Committee. v. Porter, ambulance driver, etc.

5. Under this scheme there will be no relieving officers, and applications for outdoor relief to be made on separate forms. The bona fides of the applicants to be vouched for by the County Councillor living in the district in which the applicants reside. Such applications, when dealt with by the Sub-Committee of the district, to be forwarded with recommendations to the Committee of Management. Payment when authorised to be made by means of Paying Orders, and, where necessary, books of Paying Orders covering a period to be utilised in this connection.

6. To meet urgent cases every District Councillor to be supplied with Emergency Help Forms. These Forms are also intended for use in cases formerly dealt with by Relieving Officers in cases where it is necessary to provide for a burial, or to supply a coffin. And in the case of application for help (Form H.H.1), all cases of emergency help to be brought before the next meeting of the Sub-Committee of the area concerned and in the form prescribed.

8. Boarding-out is recommended in all possible cases under this scheme. In the case of adults, however, care must be taken that no person of vicious habits receives any help outside an institution, and where help is afforded to parents or others having children, or young persons, or persons of weak intellect depending on them, it must be seen to that those dependants are properly provided for. In order to make good citizens, special attention must be paid to children. None should be allowed to remain in an institution where possible, but they should, from earliest years, be given an idea of the advantages of home life as compared with life in an institution. None should be placed in a town, but should be boarded out with respectable classes in the country districts.

9. With regard to the general administration of the County Home, too much importance cannot be attached to the details. The system of separate apartments, separate cooking, and other special arrangements for the officials employed must not continue.

10. Only urgent cases should be admitted to the District Hospital, and then only when much nearer the district than the central institution. Chronic cases must not, under any circumstances, be kept in the District Hospital.

11. All patients must contribute towards their maintenance according to their means. Those receiving sick benefit allowances, and having no dependants, should, in all cases, contribute.

12. Patients paying the full actual cost of their treatment to have the right to bring in any medical aid they please for consultation.

LIMERICK COUNTY BOROUGH SCHEME.

1. That the Limerick Workhouse shall, from the 31st March next, be closed down, and all inmates appropriate to the Workhouse as such, belonging to Limerick County and Clare County, be in the meantime transferred to their respective County Homes; those belonging to Limerick City to be, as far as possible, boarded-out, and the remainder retained in a suitable Home within the Borough.

2. That the offices of all existing officials of the Workhouse be determined by one month's notice, dating from the 1st March, 1922.

3. The present Board of Guardians shall, on instructions of the Local Government Department, notify their officials to this effect, and the Guardians as a body shall cease to function from and after a date to be fixed by the Department, but not until such time as all liabilities connected with the Union shall have been discharged, and the books of the Union submitted to audit.

4. Each permanent whole-time officer whose office is abolished under this scheme shall, where the number of years' service is ten or more than ten years, be granted an abolition allowance, and where the term of service is less than ten years, a gratuity or lump sum shall be awarded. Such allowances or gratuities to be calculated on the basis arrived at between the three contributory bodies to the Limerick Workhouse, and subject to the decision of the Local Government Department.

5. A Committee of Management (Governing Committee) to control the administration of the new City Home and Hospital shall be set up, consisting of eleven members (including the Mayor of Limerick, ex-officio); three of these shall be women, as it is desirable that women representatives be on the committee. Seven members (including the Mayor) shall be appointed by the Borough Council from amongst the members of the Council, and these seven members shall recommend the co-option of four other members (who need not necessarily be members of the Borough Council) to the Council for appointment on the Management Committee.

6. The Committee of Management shall adopt such Standing Orders as shall be deemed necessary by the Local Government Department.

7. The committee shall take the necessary steps to provide for the re-staffing of the City Home and Hospital, and advertisements for this purpose shall be inserted in the public press, as soon as possible, after the notices of abolition of offices have been issued to existing officials.

8. The new staff to be appointed by the Committee shall consist of:—

( a ) An Accountant Secretary (duties to be defined).

( b ) A House Steward.

( c ) A Matron.

( d ) Requisite number of nurses and attendants.

( e ) Gate Porter.

( f ) A Medical Officer.

( g ) Chaplains.

In case of any future appointments to the nursing staff, none but fully trained nurses shall be eligible.

9. Any such new appointments as the Committee shall decide to make shall be subject to the sanction of the Local Government Department, and when the Department deems it necessary, examinations will be held. All appointments shall be temporary for a period of six months, and the salaries attaching thereto shall be subject to revision, subject to the approval of the Local Government Department, at the end of the period. The appointments shall be made permanent, conditional on satisfactory service being given.

10. The system of rationing of officials shall, under the proposed new management, cease, and, as far as possible, with the successful working of the City Home officers will be expected to live outside the institution.

11. The bread supply for the institution shall be got, by contract, from the local bakeries.

12. The conveyance of patients to and from the City Home shall, with the co-operation of the Borough Council, be done by the City Ambulance.

13. For purposes of administering Home Help throughout the Borough, a suitable person, or persons, shall be appointed to carry out all the duties connected therewith (duties to be defined by the committee), and the committee shall be free, in the interests of economy and the destitute poor, to make such suitable alteration as it may deem fit in this regard.

14. Three members of the Committee of Management shall form a quorum for ordinary routine business, and five for any business which, in the opinion of the Chairman of the Committee, may be considered of a special nature.

15. The first Committee of Management shall continue to function up to the date of the first annual meeting of the new Borough Council to be elected in 1923.

The term of office of the second Committee, and subsequent Committees, of Management shall be decided by the Borough when appointing same.

16. The Committee of Management shall submit their annual estimate and demand to the Borough Council for its requirements for the ensuing year. A special meeting of the Committee shall be summoned on or before the 15th January in each financial year at which the Secretary shall submit his estimate of the liabilities and requirements of the Committee to be provided for by the Borough Council during the ensuing financial year, and the Committee shall by resolution, to be recorded on the minutes of the meeting, adopt the same with or without amendments, and shall thereupon make Estimate and Demand under their Seal, for the amount required, and shall transmit same to the Borough Council, and a certified copy to the Local Government Department. Should the Committee fail to make such Estimate and Demand within the specified time, the Secretary shall be empowered to furnish a copy of his Estimate to the Clerk of the Borough Council, and to the Local Government Department.

17. The Committee of Management may appoint a Treasurer who shall be a Banking Company.

18. The accounts of the Committee of Management shall be audited half-yearly by an Auditor of the Local Government Department, and the existing enactments and regulations governing audit shall be adopted accordingly.

19. The Committee shall be charged with the general management and administration of the Home, with a view to affecting external and internal economies, and to the utilisation of the inmate labour as far as possible. Quarterly reports shall be furnished by the Committee to the Borough Council, and certified copies of same directed to the Local Government Department.

LIMERICK COUNTY SCHEME.

1. That each Poor Law Union in the County be abolished, and that institutional provision be made only for such cases as cannot be discharged from the existing institutions.

2. That the Workhouses at Kilmallock and Rathkeale be completely closed and disposed of for National use as factories, mills or other industrial purposes that will create employment.

3. That Croom and Newcastle West Workhouses pass out of the hands of their respective Boards of Guardians, and be governed by a Committee of Management or Governing Body, the Governing Body to consist of fourteen members; each District Council in the County appointing one member, and the County Council six members; each member to be an elected representative of the people. That the one Body govern both institutions.

4. That the institution at Croom be called the County Hospital, and the institution at Newcastle West be called the County Home.

5. That all sick inmates (belonging to County Limerick) in the Workhouses at Newcastle West, Rathkeale, Croom, Kilmallock, in Mallow Workhouse, belonging to Kilmallock Union, within the County; in Fermoy Workhouse, belonging to Mitchelstown No. 2 Rural District; in Limerick Workhouse, belonging to Limerick No. 1 Rural District; in Limerick Workhouse belonging to Tipperary No. 2 Rural District; in Listowel Workhouse, belonging to Glin Rural District, be transferred to the County Hospital at Croom.

6. That all aged, infirm, epileptics, idiots, incurables, and advanced cases of tuberculosis, in the above Workhouses and Rural Districts belonging to the County Limerick, be transferred to the County Home at Newcastle West.

7. That the system of boarding out be adopted where at all practicable as tending to economy.

8. Orphans and deserted children between the ages of 2 and 7 years to be boarded-out, or failing same to be put into orphanages; children under 2 years of age to be put out to nurse; all other children eligible for Glin District School to be sent there. The present Board of Guardians to take immediate steps to carry out this part of the scheme.

9. Unmarried mothers with their children to take their discharge from the different workhouses.

10. Cost of transfer and conveyance of inmates and patients to be a County charge.

11. That all officials who are compulsorily obliged to retire by reason of the foregoing scheme be compensated for loss of office according to the maximum scale hitherto in existence, and where a Board of Guardians consider it right to mark their appreciation of meritorious service on the part of any official, they may be at liberty to add to his or her service a number of years as they may deem suitable, for the purpose of calculating the superannuation allowances, subject to the sanction of the Department of Local Government.

12. That the rationing system be abolished in the new institutions, the equivalent in money to be allowed.

13. That the Governing Body appoint a staff of officials for the County Home and Hospital; that retired officials be re-appointed as far as possible, so as to avoid payment of pensions, and that each Union get its fair value of appointments according to merit.

14. That Lay Nurses be engaged in the County Hospital and an Order of Nuns in the County Home.

15. That for the present the several Rural District Councils function for outdoor relief, medical charities, and other non-poor relief purposes.

16. The Governing Body to appoint their own Treasurer for each institution, and to be supplied with funds direct by the County Councils. The Governing Body to prepare their own Estimate and Demand on the County Council; the existing Estimate and Demands for the coming year to be reduced by such sum to meet expenses from date of opening of institutions to the 31st March next.

17. Each Union or Rural District to contribute towards the expenses of the County Hospital and Home according to the number of inmates maintained therein.

18. Charges at the County Hospital and Home to be at per head as made out at the end of each half-year on collective number of days system. Moneys from paying patients to be credited to their respective Rural Districts.

19. Separate accounts to be kept for each Rural District in so far as the operation of the scheme affects the Rural Districts.

20. The Governing Body to be charged with the duty of managing the institutions with due regard, not only to efficiency, but also to economy, and of introducing improvements in the management of the institutions as will lead to still further economies. The inmates to be employed and kept at work according to their capacity and ability, and thus avoid the expense of paid help as far as possible.

21. Limerick Union Workhouse to be left out of the scheme as agreed on at meeting of the 6th June, 1921, except that portion of the Union which comprises Limerick No. 1 Rural District. The several Boards of Guardians in the Amalgamated Unions to be abolished, and that the work in connection with outdoor relief, medical charities, etc., to be carried out by the respective District Councils.

22. The Board of Management to take over, at an agreed valuation, all serviceable stocks in the Workhouses to be closed, a competent valuator to be engaged for this purpose.

23. By arrangements with hospitals in neighbouring counties, and with Limerick County Infirmary and Limerick City Hospital, that "Urgent Sick Cases" from Rural Districts not easily accessible to the County Hospital at Croom, may be sent to these institutions and charged at a fixed sum per head, per week, as may be arranged between the Governing Body and such institutions. This method to be employed only in extreme cases.

24. Admission tickets to the County Hospital and Home to be obtained from members of the Governing Body and every District Councillor of a Rural District in the County Scheme; also medical officers. No admission of patients to the County Hospital unless on a doctor's certificate. The bona fides of the applicant to be vouched by persons issuing tickets, special attention being directed to scale of charges which applicant can afford.

25. A scale of maintenance charges to be drawn up by the Governing Body for paying patients in the Hospital and Home.

26. That deceased persons in the County Hospital and County Home be conveyed, at the expense of the Governing Body, to the Parish Church of their native district, and in the case of poor persons, that a coffin and shroud be provided.

27. That in case of dereliction or irregularities of duty of the officials in the County institutions, the official in charge to be empowered to suspend such person and report the case to the next meeting of the Governing Body.

28. Meetings of the Governing Body to be held fortnightly at the County Council Chamber, Limerick, or when decided, at the County Hospital, Croom, or County Home, Newcastle West; a special meeting may be called by the Chairman or on the requisition of any two members. That five members form a quorum.

29. Additions or alterations of any of these rules may be made by the Governing Body at any time, after due notice to each member, same to be submitted to the Local Government Department for approval.

30. That the whole Scheme of Amalgamation of Unions in the County be revised after two years, if necessary.

LONGFORD COUNTY SCHEME.

1. Close existing Workhouses in Granard and Ballymahon.

2. Form for whole County a Central Institution at Longford. Workhouse buildings to be used for the purpose, to be called "The County Longford Home."

3. The institution at Longford to comprise:—

( a ) Central Hospital for treatment of Medical and Surgical cases.

( b ) An Hospital for Infectious Diseases.

( c ) A Central Home for Infirm, aged and chronic Invalids.

( d ) Expectant mothers (unmarried).

4. Inmates of Granard and Ballymahon Workhouses to be transferred to Central Home as soon as possible after scheme is sanctioned.

5. Children at present in Workhouses of Granard, Ballymahon and Longford to be boarded-out, amount for boarding-out to be settled by Home Committee.

6. Inmates in these Workhouses chargeable to other Counties to be transferred to their respective Counties.

7. That Central Institution at Longford, distribution of outdoor relief and other work hitherto carried out by Board of Guardians be administered by a Committee of Management to be known as "The Longford Home Committee" formed as follows:—

11 County Councillors—3 from each Rural District, with Chairman and Vice-Chairman as ex-officio Members of Committee.

9 Guardians—3 from each Rural District.

2 Urban Councillors—one from each Urban District.

22 in all.

Three members to form a quorum. Committee to come into office on a day to be named. Committee to be elected annually.

Each of above bodies to select Representatives on "Home Committee."

8. The Union as an Administrative area to be abolished.

9. Rural Districts to be retained for the present for purpose of administration under Central Committee of Management, and for road business under County Council. Charges at County Hospital to be at so much per head as made out at end of each half year on collective number of days system. Amount paid by patients to be credited to Rural District.

Cases treated at Central Hospital not chargeable to any Rural District in the County to be regarded as County-at-Large charges.

10. Granard and Longford Urban Districts to be considered for purposes of this Schedule as Granard and Longford Rural District.

11. R. D. Councils to appoint District Committees to deal with applications for temporary allowance, etc. Committee of ten would be sufficient. Three to form a quorum.

12. One Central Officer to be appointed to act as Clerk or Secretary to Hospital and Home Committee.

13. In Central Institution provision should be made for following staffs:

( a ) Present Medical Officer Longford Workhouse.

( b ) Superintendent.

( c ) Matron.

( d ) Requisite number of Nurses and Attendants.

( e ) A Porter.

14. Applications for temporary allowance to be made on Special Forms. Councillor for District must vouch for in writing the bona fides of the applicant. These applications when dealt with by District Committee will be forwarded with recommendations to Hospital Home Committee. Payment when authorised to be made by Paying Orders and posted to applicants. Where necessary books of Paying Orders covering a period to be sent to applicant. Each Order to be dated as to when payment is available. Term "temporary allowance" to be substituted for "outdoor relief."

15. To meet urgent cases every Urban Councillor, and every District Councillor will be supplied with "Emergency Help Forms." These forms are to be used in case it was necessary to provide for a burial or supply a coffin. All emergency help cases dealt with to be brought before next meeting of District Committee in area concerned and in Form prescribed.

16. Separate accounts to be kept for each Rural District at office of Central Institution in so far as the scheme affects the Rural District Councils.

17. Demands made formerly by Board of Guardians to be now made by Hospital and House Committee who will receive monies direct from County Councils.

18. Stocktaker to be appointed to value the articles taken from various Unions to furnish County Home, and that each Union be credited with value of such Stock.

19. That each Board of Guardians be responsible for transfer of their inmates to Central institution.

SUPERANNUATION OF OFFICERS.

20. That all officers entitled to superannuation and whose offices will be abolished under the Amalgamation Scheme be superannuated. That each officer whose service is over ten years be granted a superannuation at the rate of one-sixtieth of his or her present salary and emoluments for each year's service. For the purpose of this article the length of service is to be taken as the actual number of years each officer has served with the addition of 50 per cent. of such actual service provided that in no case shall the superannuation exceed two-thirds of the present salary and emoluments of such officer. This addition of 50 per cent. of the number of years' service is granted for compensation for the abolition of office and the officials whose offices are abolished are to have no further claim for loss of office beyond what is provided for in this article. On this scheme being sanctioned the Boards of Guardians shall give the necessary notice of abolition of office to each official concerned, and should pass a resolution granting to such officials a superannuation on the basis laid down by this Article.

In the case of an officer entitled to a gratuity whose actual service is ten years or less, and whose office is to be abolished under the Amalgamation Scheme, the scale of gratuity as laid down in the seventh Schedule of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, be applicable and reckoned on the salary and emoluments of such officer on the date of abolition of his office. The payment of gratuities shall be at the discretion of the County Council be extended over a period not exceeding five years, payable quarterly. Officers who are thus compensated shall have no further claim for loss of office, and the procedure as regards termination of appointments and grant of gratuities and compensation shall be as set out above in the case of superannuations and compensations.

21. Average weekly cost per capita to be charged to each Rural District, according to number of inmates, and establishment charges to be a proportional charge on a valuation basis.

NOTE.—Any matter or thing arising under this scheme not provided for to be settled between the local bodies affected with the approval of the County Council and the Local Government Board.

MAYO COUNTY SCHEME.

1. All the Workhouses in the County to be closed, and all inmates appropriate to the Workhouse, as such, to be transferred on a date to be named to the Central Workhouse at Castlebar. (See par. 6.)

2. The Hospitals attached to the Workhouses at Ballinrobe, Claremorris and Westport to be closed and the patients to be transferred to the Central Hospital at Castlebar. The Central Hospital will serve the Union areas heretofore catered for by the Hospitals of Ballinrobe, Claremorris, Westport and Castlebar, and will serve also the County for all cases which may be described as chronic, and which are not admissible to District Hospitals.

3. A small Fever Hospital will remain open at Belmullet for fever cases only.

4. Portion of the Hospital presently attached to Swinford Workhouse to be set aside as a District Hospital for a limited number of cases only (hereinafter specified—see par. 21).

5. A similar Hospital to that at Swinford to be retained at Ballina (See par. 21).

ADMINISTRATION.

6. The Central Home and Hospital at Castlebar shall be managed by a Committee of Management, to be known as the "Home and Hospitals Committee." The Committee shall be comprised as follows:—

Two members of each Union in the County, one of whom shall be the Chairman of the Rural District Council; 1 member from each Urban Council; 8 members from the County Council. The Committee shall have power to and shall co-opt 3 other members who shall be women.

It is desirable for obvious reasons to have women representatives on the Committee. If it is possible to effect this provision from amongst the representatives of the bodies concerned, the question of co-option shall not necessarily arise.

Three members of the Committee shall form a quorum for ordinary routine business, and five shall form a quorum for any business which, in the opinion of the Chairman of the Committee, may be considered of a special nature.

A special meeting of each body having representation on the Home and Hospitals Committee shall be convened to meet on a date to be named for the purpose of appointing representatives to the Home and Hospitals Committee. These special meetings shall be held as soon as possible after the Scheme of Amalgamation shall have been adopted by the County Council, and sanctioned by the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann.

7. The term of office of the Home and Hospitals Committee shall be the same as that of the present County Council, and shall continue to function up to the date of the first annual meeting of the new County Council. The first Home and Hospitals Committee shall hold office for the same period as the present County Council, and succeeding Committee shall be appointed for triennial periods.

8. The Home and Hospitals Committee shall submit their Annual Estimate and Demand to the County Council for its requirements for the ensuing year. A special meeting of the Committee shall be summoned on or before the 15th January in each financial year, at which the Clerk shall submit his Estimate of the liabilities and requirements of the Committee to be provided for by the County Council during the ensuing financial year, and the Committee shall, by resolution, to be recorded in the Minutes of the meeting, adopt the same with or without amendments, and shall thereupon make the Estimate and Demand under their Seal for the amount required, and shall transmit same with dispatch to the County Council, and a certified copy to the Local Government Department. Should the Committee fail to make such Estimate and Demand within the specified time, the Clerk of the Committee shall be empowered to furnish a copy of his Estimate to the Secretary of the County Council and to the Local Government Department.

For the present financial year the County Council shall, on demand from the Home and Hospitals Committee, advance such sums as shall be deemed necessary to finance the new Home.

9. The Home and Hospitals Committee shall appoint their own Treasurer which shall be a Banking Company.

AUDIT.

10. The accounts of the Home and Hospitals Committee shall be audited half-yearly by an Auditor of the Local Government Department of An Dáil, and the existing enactments and regulations as to audit shall be adapted accordingly.

11. The Committee shall be charged with the general management and administration of the Home and Hospital, with a view to effecting external and internal economies, and to the utilising of inmate labour as far as possible. Quarterly reports shall be furnished by the Committee to the Mayo County Council and certified copies of same directed to the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann.

12. The Committee shall adopt such Standing Orders and Regulations as shall be deemed necessary by the Local Government Department of An Dáil.

ADMINISTRATION.

13. The Committee shall make the following appointments, and shall define the respective duties of office:—

( a ) An Accountant-Secretary to Home and Hospitals Committee, and whose duties shall be defined.

( b ) A Matron who must be a trained nurse; duties to be defined.

( c ) Requisite number of Nurses and Attendants.

( d ) A Storekeeper, duties to be defined.

( e ) A Porter.

MEDICAL.

As a temporary arrangement the present Medical Officer of the Workhouse at Castlebar, and the Surgeon of the County Infirmary shall be the Medical Staff. The remuneration in connection with these offices to be fixed by the Committee. When financial conditions permit one whole-time Medical Officer shall be appointed to discharge the duties of the Home and of the Hospital.

All appointments shall be temporary for a period of six months, and the salary attaching to such office shall be subject to revision with the approval of the Local Government Department at the end of the period. The appointment shall then be made permanent conditional on satisfactory service having been given. Preference shall be given to officers who shall have been superannuated under the Scheme of Amalgamation.

Intimation of appointments shall be made through public advertisement, and canvassing shall be regarded as a disqualification.

SUB-COMMITTEES.

14. For the purposes of administering Public Assistance in Kind, Medical Charities, and such other matters as were hitherto dealt with by the Board of Guardians, a Sub-Committee consisting of five members shall be appointed by each Rural District Council.

Two of these shall be members of the County Committee and two shall be actual members of a local charitable organisation. Three members of each sub-committee shall form a quorum.

15. The Boards of Guardians shall cease to exist from the date of the formation of the Home and Hospitals Committee and their functions shall be taken over by the sub-committees.

PUBLIC ASSISTANCE IN KIND.

16. The term outdoor relief shall be substituted by that of Public Assistance in Kind.

ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE IN KIND.

The offices of all Relieving Officers as such shall be terminated (see par. 27) and the future administration of Public Assistance in Kind shall be as follows:—

Each Sub-Committee to appoint from among its members an Honorary Secretary, who shall discharge the clerical work of the Sub-Committee.

Applications on Form A for Public Assistance in Kind shall be received by the Sub-Committee who shall meet fortnightly to consider same, and make their recommendations to the Home and Hospitals Committee on Form A.

These recommendations shall be made to the Home and Hospitals Committee at its regular meetings for approval or disapproval.

When sanction has been obtained the Committee of Management shall invite the co-operation of the local charitable organisation, to whom vouchers shall be sent. These vouchers shall entitle applicants to Public Assistance in Kind and shall be distributed to them by the local charitable organisation. The latter by visitation and vigilance shall ensure that the necessary assistance is obtained each week from the Purveyor to whom the voucher is directed by the Home and Hospitals Committee.

The local charitable organisation shall make monthly reports as to the condition and circumstances of the recipients and investigate any complaints that may arise. At the end of each month the Purveyor who has supplied goods against vouchers shall furnish his account to the local charitable organisation, who shall then check and certify same and transmit it to the Home and Hospitals Committee for payment.

In cases of extreme urgency the Sub-Committee shall be empowered to administer immediate relief. For this purpose special emergency assistance forms shall be provided by the Home and Hospitals Committee; such emergency forms shall be available until such times only as the Home and Hospitals Committee shall have an opportunity for issuing the ordinary vouchers.

CHILDREN.

17. The Home and Hospitals Committee shall be charged with the duty of boarding out all or as many as possible of the institution children. The Sub-Committees shall assist the Home and Hospitals Committee in the matter of procuring suitable foster-parents in the districts under their control and shall report regularly on the condition of the children as shall have been already boarded out. The Home and Hospitals Committee shall see that children are boarded out as soon as possible—no child over the age of 3 years to be retained in the Central Institution. Should it be found impracticable to board out certain children the Committee at their discretion may have them transferred to an Industrial School or similar institution.

UNMARRIED EXPECTANT MOTHERS AND UNMARRIED MOTHERS.

18. A separate apartment in the Central Institution will for the present have to be set aside to deal with this class.

CENTRAL HOME.

The following divisions have been recommended for the Central Home:—(a) Boys; (b) Girls; (c) Males, aged and infirm and epileptics; (d) Females, aged and infirm and epileptics; (e) Males, idiots and imbeciles (temporary); (g) Expectant mothers unmarried (temporary).

IDIOTS AND IMBECILES.

19. The Home and Hospitals Committee shall, with the consent of the Committee of Management of the County Asylum, arrange that persons falling under this section shall be housed in the Asylum buildings. Pending such arrangement this class shall be housed in a separate department of the Central Home.

DISPENSARY DISTRICTS.

20. Dispensary District and Dispensary Doctors shall not for the present be interfered with.

DISTRICT HOSPITALS.

21. The management of the District Hospitals shall be entrusted to the Sub-Committee of the Rural District Councils, and each Sub-Committee shall co-opt two women members to assist in the supervision of the Hospital. The Sub-Committee should carry out frequent visits to the Hospital, and such visits should be impromptu. The meetings of these Sub-Committees shall be held monthly on a date to be fixed by the Home and Hospitals Committee, to whom a quarterly report shall be submitted. A certified copy of the same report shall be forwarded to the Local Government Department.

The internal administration of the Hospital shall be carried out by the Medical Officer of the present Workhouse and the Nursing Sister in charge. Suitable account books and documents shall be provided for this purpose. No extra remuneration shall be allowed for clerical work done by the Medical Officer and Sister in Charge.

The Sub-Committee shall be directly responsible to the Home and Hospitals Committee for all its actions. The Home and Hospitals Committee shall have power to dissolve such Sub-Committee on giving six months' notice of its intention, but such dissolution shall not invalidate any act done by the Sub-Committee prior to its dissolution.

The Sub-Committee shall rely for its funds upon the Rural District Council, and shall for this purpose present an Annual Estimate and Demand which will have been sanctioned previously by the Home and Hospitals Committee.

For the present year the Home and Hospitals Committee shall provide funds to meet requirements. The admission of cases to the District Hospitals shall be strictly limited to urgent surgical and urgent medical cases. A list of such cases as are deemed eligible for admission shall be compiled by the Local Government Department.

All cases of a chronic nature are not to be admitted, but must be sent for treatment to the Central Home at Castlebar.

22. Patients admitted to the District Hospitals shall be obliged to pay for maintenance and attendance according to capacity. A paying patients' book shall be kept for recording all such transactions, and the monies received from this source shall be lodged with a duly appointed Treasurer, who shall be a Banking Company.

HOME NURSING.

23. The Home and Hospitals Committee may, when finance admits of it, adopt a system of home nursing, and to this end may appoint District Nurses, the areas of whose activities and duties shall be defined later. Their duties shall include:—(a) Visits to the homes of the poor, thereby giving timely aid and useful hints towards the prevention of sickness; (b) Instruction as to management and cleanliness of homes and children; (c) Advice as to proper food for the sick; (d) The carrying out of disinfecting and other work under the Public Health Acts now done by untrained officials.

24. Each Board of Guardians shall be responsible for the transference of their own inmates to the Central Home, on a date to be fixed by the Home and Hospitals Committee. Failing the carrying out of transference by Boards of Guardians the said Home and Hospitals Committee shall be empowered to board out children and such other inmates as they think advisable; to discharge able-bodied persons; and to arrange for the transference of the remainder to the Central Home. The expense of transference to the Central Home shall be borne by the Guardians. All children not boarded out are to be transferred to the Home on the day specified.

25. A Stocktaker shall be appointed as soon as possible to value the articles taken from the various Unions for use at the Central Home and Hospital. Each Union shall be credited with the value of such articles or stock as may be taken. The fee of such Stocktaker to be paid by the Home and Hospitals Committee.

26. On a date to be fixed by the Local Government Department, the Guardians in each Union shall call a Special Meeting to terminate the appointments of all officials and of all other employees whose offices and employment cease simultaneously with the coming into operation of the Amalgamation Scheme.

Where the Clerk of the Union is also Clerk of the Rural District Council his office as Clerk of Union shall be abolished, and he shall be superannuated. (See Par. 27).

The following offices and employments are under this section terminated:—Clerk of Union, Master, Matron, Chaplain, Nurses, Porter, Attendants, both male and female; Wardsmaids, and all others who are not specifically mentioned under the above heads.

SUPERANNUATION.

27. All officers whose offices are abolished and who are entitled to superannuation shall be superannuated (subject to the condition that in the event of any superannuated officer obtaining a position under the County Council or the Home and Hospitals Committee, or any other public body under the jurisdiction of the County Council, he shall forfeit the amount of his superannuation, provided the salary of his or her new position is equal to or greater than that amount), as follows:—

Each officer whose service is over ten years shall be granted superannuation at the rate of one-sixtieth of his or her present salary and emoluments for each year's service. The length of service shall be taken as the actual number of years served with the addition of 50 per cent. of such actual service, provided that in no case shall the superannuation exceed two-thirds of the present salary and emoluments of such offices. The addition of 50 per cent. of the number of years service is granted as compensation for the abolition of office, and the officials whose offices are abolished shall have no further claim beyond what is provided for in this section.

The amount of an officer's emoluments shall be calculated on the basis of the average of such emoluments for the three completed years prior to his retirement.

GRATUITY.

28. Where an officer who is entitled to a gratuity, and whose office is abolished under the Scheme, the amount of the gratuity reckoned on the salary and emoluments of such officer on the date of abolition of his office shall be as follows:—

If his service has not exceeded two half-years, one year's salary and emoluments.

If his service has exceeded two half-years, one year's salary and emoluments plus one-quarter of same for each half-year which he has served above the two first half-years, but not exceeding in any case five years' net emoluments. The amount of the officers' emoluments shall be calculated on the average of three completed half-years immediately preceding the retirement.

Payment of Gratuities may be made quarterly or half-yearly should the finances not permit of payment of a bulk sum.

Objections to the amount of either superannuation or gratuity may be referred to the Local Government Department, whose decision shall be final.

29. The funds required to carry out the preceding Sections 27 and 28 shall be obtained by way of loan by the County Council, and the repayment of the instalments and interest thereon shall be a charge upon the appropriate Rural Districts.

MEATH COUNTY SCHEME.

1. That all Workhouses and Workhouse Hospitals as such be closed.

2. That a Hospital for the whole County, to be known as the Meath County Hospital, be established at Navan. The Workhouse buildings there to be utilised for the purpose.

3. That none but acute medical and surgical cases be treated in the County Hospital.

4. That a Home for the whole County, to be known as the Meath County Home, be established at Trim. The Workhouse buildings there to be utilised for the purpose.

5. That all ordinary Workhouse inmates of County Meath who cannot be boarded out be sent to the Home.

6. That the County Home and Hospital be administered by a Committee of Management formed after the following manner:—

17 Members appointed by the County Council.

2 Members appointed by each Rural District Council in the County.

1 Member appointed by each Urban District Council in the County.

All future appointments to be directed by the County Council.

7. That regulations governing the business of the County Home and Hospital be made by the Committee of Management, subject to the sanction of the Local Government Department.

8. That each District Council subscribe per capita to the upkeep of the County Home and Hospital.

Separate accounts to be kept at the Offices of the County Home and Hospital for each Rural District in as far as the operation of the Scheme affects each Rural District.

Urban Districts to be regarded as part of the Rural District in which they lie.

9. That Demands on the County Council hitherto made by Boards of Guardians in the County be made by the Committee of Management, and subject to the sanction of the County Council. The monies to be paid direct to the Committee of Management by the County Council.

10. That all appointments of officials to the County Home and Hospital and regulations as to salaries be made by the Committee of Management subject to the sanction of the Local Government Department.

11. That in the interests of the Ratepayers new appointments be filled from the ranks of existing officials where possible.

12. That the Committee of Management fix a scale of Hospital fees on a valuation basis, ranging from full maintenance for such patients as can afford it to nil for the very poor.

13. That a Stocktaker be appointed as soon as possible to value the articles in the various Unions.

A Sub-Committee to be appointed to confer with the Louth County Council with regard to stock taking in Drogheda and Ardee Workhouses.

The fee of such stock-taker to be paid by the Committee of Management.

14. That a Sub-Committee be appointed to confer with the Louth County Council with reference to the apportionment of liability in the payment of superannuation to officials in Drogheda and Ardee Unions.

15. That each Board of Guardians be responsible for the transference of inmates of its Union to the County Home and Hospital on a date to be fixed by the Committee of Management, and not later than January 1st, 1922.

16. That the Committee of Management go into the question of reorganisation of method of distribution of Out-door Relief with a view to effecting economies consistent with an improved relief of the poor.

17. That the Committee of Management furnish quarterly reports to the Meath County Council.

18. That all appointments of officials to the County Home and Hospital for the first year be of a purely temporary nature.

19. That an officer in each of the Workhouses in the County be made personally and directly responsible for all stock and property during the transfer.

20. That an efficient motor ambulance service be established and maintained throughout the County.

21. That it be clearly understood among existing officials that the Home and Hospital about to be established are new Institutions, and that the officials at Navan and Trim have no greater claim on the new appointments than the officials of any other Union in County Meath.

22. That this Scheme come into operation on January 1st, 1922.

23. That in order to provide for adjustment of accounts between the different Counties, parts of which made up the old Union Areas, instructions be given the various Guardians to pension off all indoor officials, Medical Officers' of Workhouses, Clerks, and R.O.'s, in accordance with Circulars 53 and 55 of the Local Government Department, reserving to the Committee of Management the right to continue in office or its employment any suitable officer whose services might be required under the new system.

24. That from January 1st, 1922, the Boards of Guardians in the County cease to function as such—the Union as an administrative area to be abolished—and the representatives of this County withdraw from the two Workhouses outside the County to which the County at present contributes.

25. That the Committee of Management be appointed, and hold a preliminary Meeting not later than November 26th, 1921, for the purpose of taking such steps as are necessary to have the Scheme in operation on January 1st, 1922, the Secretary to the County Council to act as Secretary to the Committee of Management pending the appointment of a Secretary.

DISTRIBUTION OF POOR RELIEF.

1. A Sub-Committee of the Hospital and Home Committee to look after the distribution of Outdoor Relief. This Committee to meet once each fortnight, and report to the Hospital and Home Committee.

2. Under the new System (in which there will be no Relieving Officers) applications for outdoor relief to be made on special forms. The bona fides of the applicant to be vouched for by the Councillor living in the neighbourhood. Those applications when dealt with by the Sub-Committee of the District to be forwarded with recommendations to the Hospital and Home Committee. Payment when authorised to be made by means of Paying Orders covering a period to be sent to applicant; the post to be used for transmission.

3. To meet the urgent cases every representative of an Urban District and Rural District to be supplied with Emergency Help Forms. These forms are also intended for use in cases formerly dealt with by a Relieving Officer in case where it is necessary to provide for a burial or to supply a coffin. As in the case of application for help (Form H.H.,1), all cases of Emergency Help to be brought before the next meeting of the Sub-Committee in the area concerned and in the forms prescribed.

4. Rural District Councils to appoint Sub-Committees to deal with applications for Outdoor Relief.

5. Sub-Committees to meet at least once each week and report to Hospital and Home Sub-Committee.

MONAGHAN COUNTY SCHEME.

1. To form for the whole County an Institution to be called a Home, the Workhouse buildings in Monaghan to be used for that purpose.

2. To close the Workhouse at Clones, Castleblaney, and Carrickmacross.

3. Clones and Carrickmacross Workhouse Hospitals to be retained for the present as District Hospitals, Clones to serve the northern portion of the County, and Carrickmacross the southern portion. A maternity ward to be provided in each Hospital.

4. The Home to accommodate all the aged and infirm, harmless lunatics, imbeciles, and chronic cases.

5. Hospitals to be used only for cases requiring temporary treatment.

6. All children to be boarded out where possible.

7. A separate ward in Home to be set apart for incurable consumptives.

8. The County Home to be administered by a Committee, to be called the County Home Committee (until after the next County Council election, when the County Council will take over administration of Home), constituted as follows:—10 Members appointed by the County Council, 4 appointed by each Rural District Council, and 1 appointed by each Urban Council of the County. (Seven members to form a quorum).

9. The District Hospital to be administered by a Committee appointed by the Local District Council of the respective districts in which the Hospitals are situated.

10. The "Union" as an administrative area to be abolished.

11. Each Rural District to be charged its proportion of cost of upkeep of Home according to the number of patients admitted from such Rural District, the cost to be reckoned at end of each half-year upon a collective number of days system. Payments made by patients towards their cost of maintenance to be credited to the Rural District from which the patients are admitted.

12. Carrickmacross, Castleblaney, Clones, and Monaghan Urban Districts to be considered as part of Carrickmacross, Castleblaney, Clones, and Monaghan Rural Districts, respectively, for the working of the Scheme.

13. All patients to contribute towards cost of maintenance according to their means.

14. For economic reasons the present system of outdoor relief will not be changed. The four Relieving Officers at present working will, therefore, be retained, but according as vacancies occur the positions will not be filled.

15. As a result of the closing of the Workhouses and the change of administration of the Poor Law system, generally, all work hitherto carried out by the Boards of Guardians will now be administered by the County Home Committee, thus the positions of all officers whose services are not required are to be abolished, and the said officers to be granted superannuation allowance. In the Home provision to be made for the following: Clerk, Registrar, Matron, Porter, Medical Officer, and the requisite number of Nurses and Attendants. In each District Hospital the staff to consist of Medical Officer, Head Nurse, Assistant Nurse, and Wardsmaid.

All above appointments to be made temporary, to hold office for six months only. In the meantime all positions to be publicly advertised, and permanent officials appointed. Officials existing at time of amalgamation to get preference if found competent.

OFFALY COUNTY SCHEME.

1. To close the Workhouses at Birr, Edenderry, and Tullamore, and the County Infirmary in Tullamore.

2. To form for the whole County a Central Institution at Tullamore, the Workhouse Buildings there to be used for that purpose.

3. The Institution at Tullamore to comprise:—

( a ) Central Hospital for the treatment of medical and surgical cases, to be known as Offaly County Hospital.

( b ) A Hospital for the treatment of Fever cases, to be known as Offaly Fever Hospital.

( c ) A Central Home for aged, infirm, and chronic invalids.

4. Inmates of Birr, Edenderry, and Tullamore Workhouses chargeable on the County of Offaly, who cannot be boarded out to be transferred to the Central Institution.

5. Inmates in those Workhouses chargeable on other Counties to be transferred to their respective Counties.

This will involve in the case of Birr provision being made by Tipperary North Riding Council for the taking over from the Birr Guardians inmates chargeable on that County; in the case of Edenderry similar steps would have to be taken by Kildare and Meath Councils; and in the case of Tullamore the Westmeath Council would have to make like provision.

6. Inmates in Roscrea and Mountmellick Workhouses, chargeable on the County of Offaly, to be transferred to Central Institution at Tullamore.

7. Only persons to whom the system of boarding out cannot be applied to receive Institutional treatment. In all possible cases help to be given to people in their homes.

The closing of Workhouses and the alteration of the present system of Outdoor Relief necessarily call for a change of administration. The Committee, after careful consideration, decided:—

8. That the Central Institution at Tullamore, the distribution of Outdoor Relief, and the other work hitherto carried out by Boards of Guardians, except work under Registrar-General, be administered by a Committee of Management, to be known as Hospitals and Homes Committee, formed after the following manner:—

6 Members to be appointed by Birr District Council, 6 by Tullamore, 4 by Edenderry, 3 by Roscrea, 1 each by two Urban Councils, and 10 by County Council. Three to form a quorum for ordinary routine work; 7 in all other cases. This Committee to come into office after next annual meeting of the County Council. The work of transferring inmates, patients, and other necessary details, to be carried out in the interval by Special Committee.

9. The "Union" as an administrative area to be abolished.

10. The Rural Districts to be retained as at present for the purposes of administration under Committee of Management in the following way:—

Each Rural District to pay all expenses peculiar to itself; charges at County Home and County Hospital to be at per head, as made out at end of each half-year on collective number of days system. In this connection payments made by patients to be credited to the Rural District from which the patients are admitted. Persons admitted to Central Institution, and not chargeable to any Rural District within the County, are to be regarded as County-at-Large Charges.

11. Birr Urban and Tullamore Urban District to be considered, for purposes under the Scheme, as part of Birr and Tullamore Rural Districts, respectively.

12. The Rural District Councils to appoint Sub-Committees to deal with applications for Outdoor Relief, and for the management of the District Hospitals at Birr and Edenderry, which it is found necessary to keep open temporarily owing to transit difficulties.

13. Two Central Officers to be appointed, one to act as Clerk to Hospitals and Homes Committee, and one to perform the duties of superintending the distribution of Outdoor Relief and inspection of Boarded-out Children.

14. In the Central Institution provision to be made for the following Staff:

( a ) As a temporary arrangement the Medical Staff to be composed of the present M.O. of the Workhouse at Tullamore and the Surgeon of the County Infirmary.

( b ) A Matron, who must be a fully qualified Nurse—Sister of present Community suggested.

( c ) Requisite number of Nurses and Attendants.

( d ) A Clerk to act as Registrar, whose duties will be defined by the Management Committee.

( e ) A Porter.

15. In the District Hospitals:—

Owing to the temporary nature of the District Hospitals at Birr and Edenderry the staff at these Hospitals to be reduced to the lowest number required pending complete closing. In the meantime Head Nurse to be responsible for administration, who should be assisted by a Registrar appointed at a nominal salary.

16. Under new system (under which there will be no Relieving Officers) applications for out-door relief to be made on special forms. The bona fides of the applicant to be vouched for by the Councillor living in the neighbourhood. Those applications when dealt with by the Sub-Committee of the District to be forwarded with recommendations to the Hospitals' and Homes' Committee. Payment, when authorised, to be made by means of Paying Orders. Where necessary and advisable books of Paying Orders covering a period, to be sent to applicant, the post to be used for transmission.

17. To meet urgent cases every representative of an Urban District and every District Councillor to be supplied with Emergency Help Forms. Those forms are also intended for use in cases formerly dealt with by a Relieving Officer, in case where it is necessary to provide for a burial or to supply a coffin. As in the case of Application for Help (Form H.H.1) all cases of Emergency Help to be brought before the next meeting of the Sub-Committee in the area concerned, and in the Form prescribed.

18. Separate accounts to be kept at Offices of Central Institution for each Rural District, in so far as the operation of the Scheme affects the Rural District Councils.

19. Demands on County Councils hitherto made by Boards of Guardians in the County to be made by Hospitals and Homes Committee, who will receive the monies direct from County Council.

20. In order to provide for adjustment of accounts between the different Counties, parts of which made up the old Union areas, instructions were given the various Guardians to pension off all indoor officials, Medical Officers of Workhouses, Clerks, and R.O's., reserving to the Special Committee the right to continue in Office or in its employment any suitable Officer whose services might be required under the new System. After this has been done the three Boards of Guardians attached to Workhouses within the County would cease to function (two have already done so), and the representatives from this County would withdraw from the two Workhouses outside the County to which we contribute.

21. Home help must in future be dealt with in a more careful and uniform manner than in the past, and as far as possible abuses must be stopped. With this object in view the active co-operation of all District Councillors is requested and advocated.

22. Boarding-out in the case of both adults and children has many advantages. In the case of adults, however, care must be taken that no persons of vicious habits receives any Help outside of an Institution, and that when Help is afforded to parents or others having children or young persons, or persons of weak intellect depending on them, it must be seen to that those dependents are properly provided for. In order to make good citizens special attention must be paid to the children. None should be allowed to remain in an Institution if possible. They should, from earliest years, be given an idea of the advantages of home life as against Institution life. None should be placed in a town, but with respectable classes in the country districts.

24. In the course of investigation of the system the geographical formation of Dispensary Districts, and the situation of the place of residence of the several Medical gentlemen comes under notice. In many instances the boundaries seem to have been made without any regard to the convenience of the sick poor or the doctors. The size and populations vary, too, in a very marked manner. The re-adjustment of these is a matter for consideration at a later date. This applies in a special way to Districts partly in and partly outside the County. For the present it is intended to pay on the area population basis our part of such salaries— the Outside County or Body concerned to pay the balance of the existing salary. This is to apply to both Dispensary Doctors and Nurses.

25. Concerning the general internal administration of Hospitals and Homes, too much importance cannot be attached to the details. In the past the system of separate apartments, or sets of apartments, separate cooking, and other special arrangements for the officials employed, led to enormous waste. The fire and lighting bills alone for a few officers in one Institution, shown by ill-kept records, exceeded the Outdoor Relief in two Rural Districts. This must not continue. Arrangements must be made for the staff, somewhat similar to those for nurses in Training Institutions. In the case of the Central Institution the whole must be placed in the charge of a fully-qualified Nurse — a Sister of the Community at present engaged there would be a guarantee of satisfaction. A sitting-room and kitchen, or use of general existing kitchen, to be provided for staff, with bedrooms situated close by. These arrangements shut out married persons with families.

26. As in the case of rations, a scale must be fixed regulating the issue of fuel and other allowances to offices of officers, and for the use of patients.

27. A supply of forms necessary to be issued to Councillors of Sub and Central Committee; Clerk at Central Office to keep a record of inward as well as outward correspondence. Postage to be refunded Chairmen of Sub-Committees at end of financial period.

28. The necessary change in method of keeping counts by the various officers concerned have been made, and must be adhered to.

29. For purposes of comparison and economy in Books and Forms, etc., a uniform Diet Scale for the District and Central Hospitals is recommended.

30. Only urgent cases should be admitted to District Hospitals, and then only when much nearer District than Central, and in no Hospitals must chronic cases be kept.

31. All patients should contribute towards their maintenance according to their means. Those receiving sick benefit allowances, and having no dependants, should in all cases contribute.

32. Patients admitted, and paying full actual cost, to have the right to bring in any Medical Aid they please for consultation.

34. The Scheme has secured the sanction of the Department of Local Government, and must in all its detail be put into immediate operation.

ROSCOMMON COUNTY SCHEME.

1. All the Workhouses in and for the County to be abolished as such.

2. Poor Law Unions and Poor Law Guardians to cease to exist.

3. The number of Rural District Councils to be reduced from seven to four, by amalgamating three small Rural Districts with adjoining larger ones in the county as follows:—Ballinasloe No. 2 with Athlone No. 2; Carrick-on-Shannon No. 2 with Boyle No. 1; and Strokestown with Roscommon.

4. The business of the Boards of Guardians to be transferred as follows:

( a ) The portion relating to indoor relief to the County and District Councils acting through a Joint Committee appointed out of their respective bodies, called the "Roscommon County Home Committee."

( b ) The portion relating to dispensary and outdoor relief and other non-poor relief purposes to the local district councils.

(NOTE.—There are no Urban Districts in Co. Roscommon, and no overlapping with adjoining counties, except that Counties Roscommon and Galway continue to be jointly interested in Ballinasloe Mental Hospital, as heretofore.)

5. The former workhouse at Roscommon to be converted into a County Home and Hospital for the county, with a branch hospital at Boyle, in the former union infirmary for sick patients from the whole of Boyle No. 1 Rural District (including Carrick No. 2 amalgamated therewith), and from the northern portion of Castlerea Rural District, as contained in the dispensary districts of Ballaghaderreen, Frenchpark, and Loughlynn.

6. The County Home Committee to consist of thirty members—half appointed by the County Council, and the other half by the District Councils—apportioned as follows, having regard to acreage, population, and valuation of each district:—

District Council.	No. of Members
Athlone No. 2 (now including Ballinasloe No. 2)	2
Boyle No. 1 (now including Carrick No. 2)	3
Roscommon (now including Strokestown)	5
Castlerea	5
Total	15

7. A person ceasing to be a member of the Council by which appointed shall cease to be a member of the County Home Committee.

8. Boyle Branch Hospital Committee to be comprised of the members of the County Home Committee chosen for, or resident in, the northern portion of the county to be served by that Branch Hospital, and thus preserve unity of control.

9. Members of the County Home Committee, and of the Boyle Branch Hospital Committee, to hold office until replaced by new appointments after each triennial election of county and district councillors.

10. Boyle Branch Hospital Committee to furnish the County Home Committee with monthly bills or accounts of all expenditure incurred by them, duly certified, together with a list thereof signed by the presiding chairman, and two other members present at the meeting at which passed for payment. All sums received by or on behalf of Boyle Branch Hospital Committee to be lodged forthwith to the credit of the account of the County Home Committee.

11. Subject to the general control of the County Home Committee in respect of all monies provided out of the rates, the acts of the Branch Hospital Committee shall not require confirmation by the County Home Committee.

12. All expenses of the County Home, and of the Branch Hospital at Boyle, to be county charges, the scheme being for the benefit of the county-at-large, a capitation basis being objectionable in that it tends to press unduly on districts having the great bulk of poor people.

13. The County Council and each District Council to be furnished by the Secretary of the County Home Committee with an account of the receipts and expenditure of the Committee after each half-yearly audit of the accounts.

14. The County Home Committee to be charged with the duty of managing the County Home with due regard not only to efficiency, but also to economy, and of introducing improvements in the management of the Home, as will lead to still further economies. The inmates not in hospital to be employed and kept at work according to their capacity and ability, and thus avoid the expense of paid help as far as possible.

15. Poor persons eligible and suitable cases for outdoor relief not to be sent or kept in the County Home.

16. The County Home Committee to fill vacancies arising in the staff of the County Home from among the officers of the closed-up workhouses whose offices will be abolished under this scheme, and thus avoid payment of pensions or gratuities to officials able and willing to continue in similar employment at the County Home.

17. Roscommon County Home Committee to pay on a capitation basis for non-chronic patients from the extreme southern parts of Co. Roscommon admitted to the Athlone District Hospital in the adjoining County of Westmeath.

18. Sligo County Home Committee to pay likewise in the case of the same class of patients admitted to the Branch Hospital at Boyle, Co. Roscommon, from the southern part of Co. Sligo convenient to Boyle.

19. That the several disused workhouses be disposed of for National use as factories, mills, or other industrial purposes as will create employment for the local workers.

20. The County Home Committee to appoint their own Treasurer, and to be supplied with funds direct by the County Council.

21. The rights of the local sanitary authorities to send dispensary and other cases for special treatment to Dublin or other extern hospitals, remain unaffected.

22. Any matter or thing arising under this scheme, and not provided for, to be settled by the County Home Committee, subject to the approval of the County Council, and of the sanction of the Ministry of Local Government.

SLIGO COUNTY SCHEME.

1. On a date to be fixed by the Committee of Management, hereinafter mentioned, all the inmates in Dromore West and Tobercurry Workhouses, and Hospitals attached, and those in Boyle Workhouse and Hospital attached, coming from that portion of the Boyle Union situate in County Sligo, shall be transferred to Sligo Workhouse, which shall be made a central institution for the entire county, and shall be called the County Sligo Home.

2. The management of the present Sligo Workhouse shall pass out of the hands of the Sligo Board of Guardians, and be transferred to a Committee of Management to consist of 8 members to be appointed by the Sligo County Council, one by Sligo Urban District Council, two by each Rural District Council in the county, one of whom shall be Chairman of that body. The Committee shall co-opt three other members who shall be women. The quorum for meetings of such Committee of Management shall be five. Regulations made by the above-mentioned Committee in regard to the management of the County Home are to be subject to the sanction of the County Council and the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann. The term of office of the Committee of Management shall be the same as that of the present County Council, and shall continue to function up to the date of the first annual meeting of the new County Council. The first Committee shall hold office for the same period as the present County Council, and succeeding Committees shall be appointed for triennial periods.

3. A special meeting of each body having representation on the Committee of Management shall be convened to meet on a date to be named, for the purpose of appointing representatives to the Committee of Management. These special meetings shall be held as soon as possible after the scheme of Amalgamation shall have been adopted by the County Council and sanctioned by the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann.

4. The present Boards of Guardians shall cease to function as from date of the sanction of the Scheme by the Local Government Department of An Dáil, and all matters in connection with outdoor relief, medical charities, etc., shall be administered by sub-committees consisting of 5 members for each Union to be appointed by the Rural District Council, two of whom shall be members of the Committee of Management.

5. Each Union shall contribute towards the expenses the County Home on a capitation basis.

6. The Committee of Management shall submit their annual Estimate and Demand to the County Council for its requirements for the ensuing year. A special meeting of the Committee shall be summoned on or before the 15th January in each financial year at which the Clerk shall submit his Estimate of the liabilities and requirements of the Committee to be provided for by the County Council during the ensuing financial year, and the Committee shall by resolution, to be recorded on the minutes of the meeting, adopt the same with or without amendments, and shall thereupon make an Estimate and Demand under their Seal, for the amount required, and shall transmit same with dispatch to the County Council, and a certified copy to the Local Government Department. Should the Committee fail to make such Estimate and Demand within the specified time, the Clerk to the Committee shall be empowered to furnish a copy of his Estimate to the Secretary of the County Council and to the Local Government Department. For the present financial year the County Council shall on demand from the Committee advance such sums as shall be deemed necessary to finance the new home.

7. The Committee of Management shall appoint their own Treasurer, which shall be a Banking Company.

8. A Stocktaker shall be appointed as soon as possible to value the articles taken from the various Unions to furnish the County Sligo Home. Each Union shall be credited with the value of such stock taken. The fee of such Stocktaker shall be paid by the Committee of Management.

9. The accounts of the Committee of Management shall be audited half-yearly by an Auditor of the Local Government Department of An Dáil, and the existing enactments and regulations as to audit shall be adapted accordingly.

10. The Committee shall adopt such Standing Orders and Regulations as shall be deemed necessary by the Local Government Department of An Dáil.

11. The appointment of officials for the County Home shall be made by the Committee of Management, subject to the approval of the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann, preference to be given where possible to those whose office shall be abolished under the Scheme, provided that in the case of the appointment of an official who is entitled to or is receiving a superannuation allowance or gratuity under the Scheme, such official must, as a condition of appointment, waive all claim to superannuation, or if a gratuity has been given, must refund to the County Council the amount of such gratuity. All appointments shall be temporary for a period of six months, and the salary attaching to such office shall be subject to revision with the approval of the Local Government Departments at the end of the period. The appointment shall then be made permanent, conditional on satisfactory service having been given. Intimation of appointment, shall be made through public advertisement, and canvassing shall be regarded as a disqualification.

12. On a date to be fixed by the Local Government Department, the Guardians in each Union shall call a special meeting to terminate the appointments of all officials, and of all other employees, whose offices and employment cease simultaneously with the coming into operation of the Amalgamation Scheme. Where the Clerk of the Union is also Clerk of the Rural District Council his office as Clerk of the Union shall be abolished, and he shall be superannuated. The following offices and employments are, under this section, terminated:—Clerk of the Union, Master, Matron, Chaplain, Nurses, Porter, Attendants, both male and female, Wardsmaids, and all others who are not specifically mentioned under the above heads.

13. All officers whose offices are abolished, and who are entitled to superannuation shall be superannuated, subject to the condition that in the event of any superannuated officer obtaining a position under the County Council or the Committee of Management or any other public body under the jurisdiction of the County Council, he shall forfeit the amount of his superannuation, provided the salary of his or her new position is equal to or greater than that amount, as follows:—Each officer whose service is over ten years shall be granted superannuation at the rate of one-sixtieth of his or her present salary and emoluments for each year's service. The length of service shall be taken as the actual number of years served, with the addition of 50 per cent. of such actual service, provided that in no case shall the superannuation exceed two-thirds of the present salary and emoluments of such officer. This addition of 50 per cent. of the number of years' service is granted as compensation for the abolition of office, and the officials whose offices are abolished shall have no further claim beyond what is provided for in this section. The amount of an officer's emoluments shall be calculated on the basis of the average of such emoluments for the three completed years prior to his retirement.

14. Where an officer is entitled to a gratuity, and whose office is abolished under the scheme, the amount of the gratuity reckoned on the salary and emoluments of such officer on the date of abolition of his office shall be as follows:—If his service has not exceeded two half-years, one year's salary and emoluments. If his service has exceeded two half years, one year's salary and emoluments plus one quarter of same for each half-year which he has served above the two first half-years, but not exceeding in any case five years' net emoluments. The amount of an officer's emoluments shall be calculated on the average of three completed half-years immediately preceding his retirement. Payment of gratuities may be made quarterly or half-yearly should the finances not permit of the payment of a bulk sum. Objections to the amount of either superannuation or gratuity may be referred to the Local Government Department, whose decision shall be final.

15. The funds required to carry out the preceding section shall be obtained by way of loan by the County Council, and the repayment of the instalments and interest thereon shall be a charge upon the appropriate rural districts.

16. Dispensary Doctors and District Maternity Nurses shall continue to discharge their duties as heretofore in their respective Dispensary Districts.

17. The management of the County Fever Hospital shall be transferred to the Committee of Management of the County Sligo Home.

18. The Committee of Management shall, as soon as the Scheme has received the sanction of the County Council and the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann, make, with as little delay as possible, the necessary arrangements for transferring the inmates in Dromore, Tobercurry and Boyle Workhouses and Hospitals attached to the County Home.

19. The Committee of Management shall be charged with the duty of boarding out all or as many as possible of the institution children. The sub-committee shall assist the Committee of Management in the matter of procuring suitable foster-parents in the districts under their control, and shall report regularly on the condition of the children who shall have been already boarded-out. The Committee of Management shall see that children are boarded-out as soon as possible— no child over the age of three years to be retained in the central institution. Should it be found impracticable to board out certain children the Committee at their discretion may have them transferred to an industrial school or similar institution.

TIRCONAILL COUNTY SCHEME.

GENERAL OUTLINE.

WORKHOUSES.

1. All existing Workhouses in the county shall be closed.

Re EXISTING WORKHOUSE INMATES.

2. Inmates of existing Workhouses in Tirconaill chargeable on Unions outside Tirconaill to be transferred to their respective counties.

3. Inmates in Workhouses outside Tirconaill and chargeable on Unions in Tirconaill to be either boarded out or transferred to a Central Home.

4. Only persons to whom system of boarding out cannot be applied to receive institutional treatment.

INFIRMARIES.

5. The infirmaries attached to following Workhouses shall be closed—viz., Dunfanaghy, Milford, Stranorlar and Letterkenny.

FEVER HOSPITALS.

6. All Fever Hospitals in the county, save the following, shall be closed—viz., Donegal, Glenties and Carndonagh. Isolation Wards to be set apart in the District Infirmary at Letterkenny for infectious cases.

DISTRICT HOSPITALS.

7. District Hospitals shall be established in the Infirmaries attached to the following Workhouses—viz., Donegal, Glenties and Carndonagh. The Fever Hospital at Letterkenny to be converted into a District Hospital.

NOTE.—It is suggested that an arrangement be come to with the Trustees of the Shiels' Hospital for the reception and treatment of patients, in which event the Donegal District and Fever Hospitals be not established.

CENTRAL HOME.

8. A Central Home shall be established at Stranorlar for aged, infirm and chronic invalids, and maternity cases, as defined in para. 29. The existing workhouse buildings to be remodelled and renovated for that purpose. All inmates of existing Workhouses in the County chargeable on any Union who cannot be boarded out to be transferred to Central Home.

LIFFORD COUNTY INFIRMARY.

9. The existing County Infirmary at Lifford shall be known as "Tirconaill County Hospital," and shall be open for the reception of medical and surgical cases from the entire County. Private and public wards to be established therein.

UNIONS.

10. The Union as an administrative area to be abolished. All Boards of Guardians to cease functioning as soon as this Scheme shall come into operation.

11. All Union officials to be pensioned off or compensated in respect of duties of which they will be relieved as a result of the operation of this Scheme.

12. Such compensation or superannuation to be allowed or fixed on the basis of scales hitherto in force, and same to be a "County at Large" charge, excluding Strabane No. 2 Rural District, where compensation has already been paid and made chargeable on Strabane No. 2 District.

13. For the term "Outdoor Relief," and for the term "Relieving Officer," there shall be substituted, respectively, the terms "National Benefit" and "National Benefit Officer."

14. For the term "Inmate," "Resident" shall be substituted.

15. For the term "Dispensary Midwife," "District Nurse" shall be substituted.

CENTRAL HOME.

MANAGEMENT.

16. A Committee of Management to be appointed by the County Council, composed as follows, shall administer the affairs of the Central Home—viz., 18 representatives of the County Council; 1 member or representative from each District and Urban Council, with 5 co-opted member (3 clergymen, 1 medical officer, and 1 lady). Of above Committee five to form a quorum. This Committee, when elected, to enter immediately on the work of preparing the Central Home for the reception of inmates, etc.

17. The Committee, constituted as aforesaid, shall meet at least once in each month. The day of meeting to be fixed by Committee.

18. Any Rules or Bye-Laws adopted by the Committees for the more efficient management of the Home shall include a scale regulating the issue of fuel for all fires, whether in officers' and attendants' apartments, or in patients' and residents' apartments.

19. The Central Home Committee shall have power to provide for conveyance of intending residents to the Central Home, and shall also have power to provide conveyance for any resident who wishes to leave the Home.

20. The Committee shall provide for the following Staff for the Home:—A Visiting Medical Officer, a Matron, who must be a trained nurse. Trained Nurses, one of whom must have maternity qualifications (in the event of the services of any existing nurse being retained the term "qualified" shall suffice); Registrar, Chaplains, and Attendants, including a first class Cook; a Porter, who shall act as Ambulance Driver, and, if deemed necessary, a Storekeeper.

21. The Committee of the Central Home are to be responsible for the undischarged liabilities of the existing Boards of Guardians in respect of such services as are transferred to them under this Scheme. All questions in connection with the segregation of accounts and appointment of liabilities to be decided by the Local Government Department Auditor, subject to appeal to the Local Government Department.

22. Casual vacancies on the Central Home Committee to be filled by nominees of the County Council selected from members of the body or class from which the person whose seat is vacant was originally chosen.

23. The Committee shall make an Annual Estimate and Demand upon the County Council for its requirements, and shall furnish all the necessary details, and shall at the same time transmit with their observations, if any, the Annual Estimates and Demands of County, District and Fever Hospitals, and National Benefit Committees to the County Council not later than 15th January in each year.

24. No persons applying for admission to the Central Home can be admitted unless they were resident in the County for the twelve months preceding date of application. Temporary accommodation may be given applicants not so qualified, at the discretion of the Committee, pending their transference to a Home outside the County.

ADMISSION TO CENTRAL HOME.

25. Person seeking admission to Central Home shall do so by filling in the prescribed form, obtainable from members of the Central Home Committee, National Benefit Committee, and County Councillors, and the National Benefit Officer. This form, when completed, should be sent to the National Benefit Officer, who shall forward his report thereon immediately to the National Benefit Committee, who may then authorise the admission of applicant to the Central Home, subject to the approval of the Committee of the Central Home.

26. Chronic cases, as far as possible, to be treated in Central Home and not transferred to the District Hospitals save where the Medical Officer of the Central Home shall certify such transfer necessary.

27. All residents of the Central Home shall be supplied with clothing of various patterns made up in ordinary style. The use of corduroy to be abolished. All present stocks of corduroy and all made-up uniforms as at present in use to be disposed of. Stocks of tweeds as formerly used in men's uniforms to be used for purposes other than clothing.

28. All residents of the Central Home to be classified according to sex, age, and physical condition.

29. In the Central Home a Maternity Ward for unmarried mothers shall be provided and isolated from other sections, and occupants not permitted to associated with other residents. Rules governing the admission, detention, and discharge of mothers and children to be at the discretion of the Central Home Committee, pending the framing of further regulations.

30. All residents of the Central Home who are in receipt of Old Age Pension or of Sickness Benefit, and without dependants, shall be required to contribute a proportion of same towards their maintenance in said Home. It shall be the duty of the Committee of said Home to fix such proportion.

31. Residents in the Central Home who find after admission they can procure a home outside, shall be given facilities by the Home Committee to apply for National Benefit.

32. The Central Home Committee shall in all cases take steps to recover from the putative fathers the cost of maintenance and attendance of illegitimate children and their mothers, and shall have discretionary powers regarding the custody, maintenance, and discharge of illegitimate children.

33. The Central Home Committee shall have power to send children of parents whose means would not, in the opinion of the Committee, permit them to do so, whether residing in Central Home or elsewhere, to institutions for special treatment, and to pay costs of maintenance whilst there.

34. The County Council shall select a competent Stocktaker to advise the Council as to any materials, articles, utensils or equipment suitable to be acquired from existing Workhouses for use in the Central Home or in the District Hospitals. Such stock, when selected, to be valued and the value so ascertained to be credited to the proper Union.

35. At the last ordinary meeting of the administrative year the Clerk of the Committee shall submit a report showing the number of meetings attended by each member of the Committee during the previous twelve months. Any member of the Committee who has failed to attend at least one-half of the meetings shall be disqualified, and shall not be eligible for re-election, save where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Committee that such absence was unavoidable through illness or other sufficient cause. Vacancies so arising to be filled at the annual meeting following the last ordinary meeting in the administrative year.

36. The annual meeting of this Committee shall be held on the same date as the first ordinary meeting in each administrative year.

37. Special accommodation shall be provided in the Central Home for such imbeciles and epileptics as cannot be provided for in the Mental Hospital.

GENERAL.

38. Where, in the opinion of the Central Home Committee it is advisable to do so, inmates of existing Workhouses, or persons who are eligible for admission to the Central Home, may be boarded out in suitable and approved Homes or Institutions, in which cases the Central Home shall contribute an amount not exceeding the cost of maintenance at the Central Home: means (if any) to be taken into consideration.

COUNTY HOSPITAL.

MANAGEMENT.

39. A Committee of Management composed as follows shall administer the affairs of Tirconaill County Hospital.

(NOTE.—As the ownership of Lifford Hospital appears to be vested in Trustees, the Committee decided to await fuller particulars re same before making any suggestion as to the constitution of the Management Committee.)

40. No person shall be eligible for admission to County Hospital unless resident in the County for at least three months preceding date of application for admission. Admission to be on a signed authority from a Medical Doctor or a member of County Hospital Committee, save in accident and emergency cases, when the Visiting Surgeon, Visiting Doctor, or Matron will have discretionary power.

41. The Staff of the County Hospital to consist of the following:—Visiting Surgeon, Visiting Doctor, Matron, who must be a trained nurse with maternity qualification; Chaplains; requisite number of Trained Nurses (in the event of the services of any existing nurse being retained, the term "qualified" shall suffice), and Attendants; a Clerk to act as Registrar, whose duties will be defined by the Management Committee; a Porter, who shall act as Ambulance Driver, and other Attendants deemed necessary, and a first class Cook.

42. A Motor Ambulance, internally heated, to be provided for the sole use of the County Hospital. When conveying a patient a nurse to accompany ambulance.

43. The Management Committee of County Hospital to meet at least once each month; the day of meeting to be fixed by Committee.

44. The Committee of the County Hospitals to arrange for the classification of all patients as soon as practicable after admission, into "paying," "part paying," and "non-paying" patients. It is suggested that patients in receipt of Old Age Pensions or Sickness Benefit, without dependants, be asked to contribute a proportion of their means towards their maintenance.

45. Any Rules or Bye-Laws adopted by the Committee of the County Hospital aiming at more efficient management shall include a scale regulating the issue of fuel for all fires, whether in officers' and attendants' apartments or in apartments used by patients and residents.

46. At the last ordinary meeting of the administrative year the Clerk of the Committee shall submit a report showing the number of meetings attended by each member of the Committee during the previous twelve months. Any member of the Committee who has failed to attend at least one-half of the meetings shall be disqualified, and shall not be eligible for re-election, save where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Committee that such absence was unavoidable through illness or other sufficient cause. Vacancies so arising to be filled at the annual meeting following the last ordinary meeting in the administrative year.

47. Patients may, at their own expense, avail themselves for purposes of consultation with such outside medical assistance as they desire.

DISTRICT AND FEVER HOSPITALS.

48. In each District Hospital provision shall be made for the following Staff, which Staff will also take charge of the Fever Hospital :—Visiting Medical Officer; a Matron, who shall be a trained nurse with fever and maternity qualifications; Trained Nurses with fever training, one of whom shall have maternity qualifications (in the event of the services of any existing Nurse being retained the term "qualified" shall suffice); a Clerk; a first class Cook; Attendants, and an Ambulance Driver.

49. Public and private wards shall be provided in all District Hospitals. All such alterations to be proceeded with as soon as practicable. Plans and specifications to be submitted to a Committee representative of the County Council and the medical profession in the County.

MANAGEMENT.

50. The County Council shall appoint Committees for the management of the District and Fever Hospitals, said Committees to be composed of the following representatives, viz. :—Eight members, of the District Councils for the areas which the District and Fever Hospitals are intended to serve, two members of the County Council, three clergymen, three ladies, two other members, one of whom shall, if possible, be a member of the medical profession.

51. Where for the purposes of this Scheme an Urban District falls to be included in a Rural District the Committee shall be composed of eight members of the Rural District Councils, four members of the Urban District Council, etc.

TUBERCULOSIS.

52. Consumptive Wards for males and for females shall be provided in each District Hospital

53. Admission to the District Hospitals shall be on the recommendation of a County Councillor, a member of the Committee, or a Medical Officer. The Matron to have discretionary powers in cases of emergency.

54. The Committees of District Hospitals are to decide, subject to the approval of the Committee of Management, what persons shall be non-paying patients, and what persons shall contribute in whole or in part towards their maintenance and attendance whilst in said Hospitals. Patients in receipt of Old Age Pensions or Sick Benefit and without dependants shall contribute a proportion of their means towards their maintenance while in such Hospitals. The Committee shall fix such proportion.

55. Patients may, at their own expense, avail themselves, for the purposes of consultation, of such outside medical assistance as they desire.

56. To facilitate scrutiny and effect economy in books, forms, etc., uniform diet scales for officers, patients, and attendants in County, District, and Fever Hospitals shall be adopted.

57. Casual vacancies on the Committees of District Hospitals to be filled by person nominated by the County Council from members of the body or class from which the person whose seat is vacant was originally chosen.

58. The Committees of the District and Fever Hospitals shall submit Annual Estimates and Demands upon the County Council of their requirements, and shall furnish all necessary details to the Central Home Committee seven clear days before the December meeting of the latter Committee.

59. Any Rules or Bye-Laws adopted by said Committees for the more efficient management of said Hospitals shall include a scale regulating the issue of fuel for all fires, whether in Officers' and Attendants' apartments or apartments used by patients.

60. Motor Ambulances, internally heated, to be provided for the use of each District Hospital, and when conveying a patient a nurse to accompany the Ambulance.

61. Meeting of Committee of Management to be held monthly; the day of meeting to be fixed by each Committee.

62. At the last ordinary meeting of the administrative year the Clerk of the Committee shall submit a report showing the number of meetings attended by each member of the Committee during the previous twelve months. Any member of the Committee who has failed to attend at least one-half of the meetings for twelve months shall be disqualified, and shall not be eligible for re-election, save where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Committee that such absence was unavoidable through illness or other sufficient cause. Vacancies so arising to be filled at the annual meeting following the last ordinary meeting in the administrative year.

63. The annual meeting of this Committee shall be held on the same date as the first ordinary meeting in each administrative year.

NATIONAL BENEFIT.

64. The administration of National Benefit and Medical Charities is transferred to the National Benefit Committee. This Committee shall be composed of two local County Councillors and five members of the District Council, and where an Urban District falls within the area three members of the Urban District Council shall in addition be included, and the members of the Committee of Management who reside in the District.

65. The Committee of the Central Home shall fix a uniform scale of National Benefit for the County, and shall formulate Rules governing the administration of same. Pending the formulation of such Rules, National Benefit Committee to have discretionary power. Applicants aggrieved to have a right of appeal to the Local Government Department.

66. The Committee of the Central Home shall draw up a uniform application form for National Benefit to be used in the County. No application for said Benefit to be entertained save where made on prescribed form duly vouched by National Benefit Officer or member of National Benefit Committee for the area in which applicant resides.

67. Where it is established that National Benefit has been granted to persons not qualified to receive same, the person on whose authority same was granted shall be liable to surcharge to the extent of the Benefit so irregularly paid.

68. No person shall be qualified to receive National Benefit unless resident in the County for at least twelve months preceding date of application for same.

69. Where, in the opinion of the County Council, the cost of distribution of Outdoor Relief is excessive, having regard to the amount of National Benefit actually distributed, the National Benefit Committee shall dispense with the office of National Benefit Officer, and arrange to pay National Benefit by Paying Orders. Where such office has been abolished application for National Benefit to be made as prescribed to a member of the National Benefit Committee for the area in which applicant resides.

URGENT CASES.

70. In urgent cases the National Benefit Officer shall be at liberty to give temporary Benefit in money or in kind at his discretion, pending the approval of the National Benefit Committee. In a district where there is no National Benefit Officer, temporary Benefit to be paid by the Clerk of the National Benefit Committee on the recommendation of a member of the National Benefit Committee for the area in which the applicant resides.

71. The National Benefit Officer, or where there is no such Officer, the Clerk or member of the National Benefit Committee, may arrange for the supply of funeral requisites and make any necessary payments in connection with undertaking arrangements, removal and burial of corpse.

72. Persons of known vicious habits shall not be entitled to National Benefit.

73. When boarding out children the Central Home Committee shall give preference to foster parents residing in country districts, and care, must be exercised that children will only be boarded out with respectable persons, and where it can be so arranged illegitimate children shall be boarded out in areas outside the district in which they were born or in which the parent or parents reside.

74. The Committee of the Central Home shall fix a uniform scale of remuneration of foster parents, which remuneration shall be paid monthly by Paying Order by the Central Home Committee. The Committee shall also fix a uniform scale for provision of clothing for boarded-out children, and the Central Home Committee shall issue orders half-yearly to local merchants to supply the necessary clothing in accordance with the scale.

Arrangements should be made by each National Benefit Committee to have a Ladies' Committee appointed for the supervision of boarded-out children and the judicious purchase of clothing.

75. Foster parents shall allow boarded-out children to be visited by a Lady Inspector under the Local Government Department, or by a member or members of the Ladies' Committee.

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS.

76. Scale of salaries rising from initial figure to maximum by stated annual increments on satisfactory service to be arranged for all Officers under this Scheme.

77. Existing Orders, Regulations, etc., governing the conduct of business and the management of all Institutions referred to herein shall be adopted temporarily, save in so far as they may be modified by this Scheme.

78. Pending the institution of a National Civil Service, canvassing either directly or indirectly shall disqualify applicants for appointments.

In all appointments, except those of Medical Officers, Trained Nurses, and Solicitor, candidates whose duties will include work of a clerical nature must pass a qualifying examination. The qualifying examination to be held by examiners appointed by Local Government Department Dáil Eireann. A knowledge of Irish to be essential.

79. The various Councils and Committees shall decide what Officers shall be required to give security for the due performance of their duties, and shall fix the amount of security.

80. All Tender Forms shall state that all supplies tendered for shall be, as far as procurable, at reasonable prices of IRISH Manufacture, and the manufacturer's name given.

81. Nurses in District and Fever Hospitals, other than Matron, to be liable to be temporarily transferred to Hospitals other than those in which they are ordinarily employed. This to be a condition of their employment.

82. All expenditure under this Scheme shall be a County-at-large Charge, except National Benefit, which shall be a District Charge.

83. For the purposes of National Benefit the Urban Districts of Bundoran, Letterkenny and Buncrana shall be considered as parts of the Rural Districts of Ballyshannon, Letterkenny, and Inishowen respectively.

84. Where a Union formerly comprised portions of two or more Counties, all accounts are to be adjusted by an Auditor of the Local Government Department. In this respect claims should be made in respect of the proportion of the capital value of all buildings the expenditure in connection with which was a Union Charge.

85. Facilities should be afforded existing Sanitary Officers to enable them to undergo a course of instruction in sanitation and hygiene. In future appointments to this position candidates should be required to pass a qualifying examination in these subjects.

86. Boundaries of existing Dispensary Districts may be rearranged and adjustments made between adjoining Dispensary Districts where necessary. In such cases maps showing Dispensary Districts should be prepared. In case Dispensary District comprises an area outside Tirconaill, the proportion payable by the authority responsible for the Tirconaill section of such Dispensary District is to be calculated on an "area and population" basis. All matters in dispute to be referred to the Local Government Department, whose decision shall be final.

87. As vacancies occur the existing District Maternity Nurses shall be replaced by Trained Nurses with Maternity and Tuberculosis qualifications, who shall afford nursing aid to persons entitled to same, and instructions in hygiene and invalid cookery. In areas remote from a District Hospital the National Benefit Committee may, if they consider it advisable, appoint a Trained Nurse with Maternity and Tuberculosis training, in addition to the existing Dispensary Nurse, or in lieu thereof make a contribution towards the maintenance of any Trained Nurse in the District who is maintained from voluntary contributions or otherwise. The boundaries of the areas served by the existing Nurses may be re-arranged, and where necessary the number of areas and Nurses increased or decreased.

88. When an Institution has been closed down the Master of the Workhouse to be made personally responsible for all stock and property during the period of evacuation.

89. Existing qualified Nurses whose services shall be retained, to be afforded facilities for taking out a course of Fever, Maternity or Tuberculosis Training.

90. A simplified and uniform system of account-keeping shall be adopted and used by the Committee of the Central Home, and by the Committees of the County and District Fever Hospitals.

91. All proposed capital expenditure and outlay on permanent improvements by bodies affected by this Scheme to be subject to the approval of the County Council and Dail Eireann.

92. This Scheme to be known as the "Tirconaill Abolition of Workhouses and Re-organization of Hospitals" Scheme,, and to come into operation on or before 1st April, 1922.

WATERFORD COUNTY SCHEME.

That this Scheme of Workhouse Amalgamation for the County of Waterford embraces the City of Waterford, which lies within the County.

APPOINTED DATE.

That all Workhouses, as such, within the County be abolished as from a date to be fixed by the County Board of Health (see constitution of Board lower down).

APPOINTMENTS TERMINATE

That all Workhouse Official Appointments, as such, terminate on that date, a scale of Superannuation having been previously fixed by the respective Boards of Guardians (for basis of Superannuation see "Superannuations" lower down).

OFFICIALS ELIGIBLE FOR EMPLOYMENT IN NEW SCHEME.

That officials of the existing Poor Law System be eligible for employment under the new Scheme, and those so employed will be credited with the years of service already rendered if and when the question of their Superannuation is dealt with later on.

UNION ADMINISTRATIVE AREA ABOLISHED.

That the Union as an Administrative Area be abolished as from the date to be fixed by the County Board of Health, and that existing Boards of Guardians cease to administer the Poor Law from that date.

COUNTY HOME.

That a County Home be established at Dungarvan for the accommodation of (a) chronic cases; (b) aged, and infirm; (c) unmarried mothers; (d) expectant unmarried mothers; (e) children who cannot be boarded out; (f) healthy harmless idiots; and (g) healthy epileptics.

COTTAGE HOSPITAL.

That a Cottage Hospital be attached to the County Home at Dungarvan, having separate provision made for fever patients, for Dungarvan Rural and Urban, Lismore and Youghal No. 2 Districts.

COUNTY HOSPITAL.

That a County Hospital be established at Waterford, and that the front block or other suitable accommodation in the Waterford Union buildings be utilised for that purpose for Clonmel No. 2, Carrick No. 2, Kilmacthomas and Waterford No. 1 Rural District Councils, and Waterford Borough.

WATERFORD FEVER HOSPITAL.

That the Fever Hospital in Waterford be retained as a Fever Hospital, and that a portion of the Dungarvan institution can be used as a Fever Hospital, if necessary.

BOARDING OUT OF INMATES.

That as soon as the Amalgamation Scheme is approved by Dáil Eireann the existing Board of Guardians take immediate steps to board out all inmates who can be suitably provided for in that way, and, where possible, with their own people. Industrial and other institutions might be availed of on reasonable terms where homes could not be procured otherwise.

BASIS OF SUPERANNUATION.

That Boards of Guardians address themselves without delay to the drawing up of a Scale of Superannuation for all Poor Law Officials entitled to same in their employ, such Scale to be submitted to Dáil Eireann for approval, and in other respects the Guardians, until they cease to function, are to expedite this Scheme as far as is practicable. That the basis for calculating Superannuation Allowance shall be that laid down in Section 8 of the Local Government Act, 1919, as interpreted and amplified by Dáil Eireann in Circulars Nos. 52, 53, and 55 issued to Public Bodies.

DISCHARGE ABLE-BODIED.

That on the appointed day all able-bodied inmates be discharged from the Workhouses by the existing Boards of Guardians.

TRANSFER OF INMATES.

That other inmates who cannot be boarded out be transferred to their own counties, the County Home, and the County Hospital, at the expense of the Guardians.

APPOINTMENT OF COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH

That a County Board of Health be appointed to manage and administer the affairs of the County Home and the County Hospital and make the necessary staff appointments and other, as may be required.

HOW CONSTITUTED.

That the Membership of the County Board of Health be made up as follows:—

15 Members appointed by the County Council, 2 at least to be ladies.

7 Members appointed by the Waterford Corporation, 2 at least to be ladies.

Dungarvan Rural District Council—2.

Lismore Rural District Council—2.

Waterford Rural District Council—2.

Dungarvan Urban Council—1.

Carrick-on-Suir No. 2 Rural District—1.

Clonmel No. 2 Rural District—1.

Kilmacthomas Rural District—1.

Youghal No. 2 Rural District—1.

33 Members in all.

That those persons appointed as Members of the County Board of Health by the County Council and the Waterford Corporation be public representatives having a definite responsibility to the ratepayers.

TERM OF OFFICE.

That the Members of the County Board of Health hold office for the same term as the respective bodies appointing them.

QUORUM.

That the County Board of Health comprise in all 33 members, exclusive of co-opted members, and that 7 members form a quorum.

CO-OPTIONS.

That the County Board of Health have power to co-opt not more than 3 additional members.

VACANCIES ON COUNTY BOARD OR HEALTH.

That any vacancy occurring on the County Board of Health be filled by the Appointing Public Body concerned, in the same manner as the first appointment.

ALTERNATE MEETINGS.

That the County Board of Health hold their Meetings alternately in Waterford and Dungarvan.

FIRST MEETING.

That the First Meeting of the County Board of Health be held at Dungarvan as soon after the ratification of the Scheme as may be found convenient.

FIXING APPOINTED DAY.

That the fixing of the day for closing of the County Workhouses, as such, be considered, and, if possible, decided at such meeting.

QUARTERLY REPORTS.

That the County Board of Health furnish Quarterly Reports to the Waterford County Council and Corporation in a form to be prescribed by the Board.

THE INFIRMARY.

That the County Board of Health, at any time they may deem it expedient to do so, approach the Board of the County and City Infirmary, Waterford with a view to coming to a mutually helpful working arrangement.

That any such arrangement shall not be carried into effect until sanctioned by Dáil Eireann.

ABOLISH OUTDOOR RELIEF.

That all Out-door Relief as such cease as from the appointed day, but "Home Help" of a like amount or nature may, after a full investigation of each case, be given after that date to those in need.

DISTRIBUTION OF HOME HELP.

That under the new system (under which there will be no Relieving Officers) applications for "Home Help" be made on special forms, the bona fides of the applicant to be vouched for by a District Councillor or other Councillor living in the neighbourhood. Those applications, when dealt with by the District or other Council, or by a Special Committee of the District or other Council appointed for that purpose, to be forwarded, with recommendations, to the County Board of Health.

PAYING ORDERS.

That payment of "Home Help," when authorised, be made by means of Paying Orders transmitted by post or otherwise as may be found safest and most convenient.

SPECIAL COMMITTEES.

That the Members elected by the several Public Bodies to act on the County Board of Health be appointed also on the Special Local Committees, which will act in conjunction with the County Board of Health, deal with applications for "Home Help," and attend to all other matters hitherto dealt with by the Boards of Guardians and not otherwise provided for in this Scheme.

RECOMMENDATORY POWERS ONLY.

That these Special Committees shall have only Recommendatory Powers; be under the control of the County Board of Health, and may be dispensed with on getting, through their Clerk, one month's notice from that body.

EMERGENCY HELP FORMS.

That the Clerk of each of the Public Bodies represented on the County Board of Health be supplied with "Emergency Help Forms" for urgent cases, and any member of such Bodies may procure these forms from the Clerk and use them as required in cases of emergency. These forms are also intended for use in cases formerly dealt with by a Relieving Officer where it is necessary to provide for a burial or supply a coffin. As in the case of application for Home Help, all cases of "Emergency Help" to be brought before the next meeting of Special Committee in the area concerned and in the form presented.

DISPOSAL OF STOCK IN WORKHOUSES.

That a Stocktaker be appointed as soon as possible to value the articles taken from the various Workhouses to furnish the County Home and County Hospital. That each Union be credited with the value of the articles so taken, and that any stock not required be disposed of by the County Board of Health in such manner as they deem best, the proceeds to be paid pro tem to the credit of the County Council in separate account pending allocation. That the fee of the Stocktaker be paid by the County Board of Health.

VESTING SALEABLE PROPERTY.

That the Saleable Interest, if any, of Property of every description at present held by the Boards of Guardians throughout the County be transferred to the County Board of Health for use or disposal as opportunity offers, subject to the sanction of Dáil Eireann. The proceeds to be paid pro tem to the credit of the County Council in separate account pending allocation.

UNIFORM RATE FOR COUNTY AND CITY.

That as from the appointed day all costs, charges, and expenses, other than those specifically charged in this scheme (i.e., expenses of transfer of inmates, etc.) be met by a uniform Flat Rate on the Valuation of the County and City of Waterford, to be made and collected in the same manner as the other rates usually levied within the County and City.

GENERAL FINANCE.

That the County Council and Borough Council of Waterford City supply the County Board of Health with the necessary funds for the administration of the County Home and County Hospital on an annual estimate and demand made by the County Board of Health on the County Council and Borough Council based on the respective Valuations of their administrative areas, and the procedure provided by Article 45 of the Union Accounts Order, 1905, be adapted to this purpose.

FINANCE FOR PRESENT YEAR.

That for the present financial year the County Council and the Borough Council, on a demand from the County Board of Health, advance from time to time as may be required such sums of money as will be sufficient to meet the requirements of the New Home and New Hospital, and that, if necessary, the County Council and Borough Council obtain from Dail Eireann a loan to enable these advances to be made.

AUDIT.

That the Accounts of the County Board of Health be audited half-yearly by an Auditor appointed by Dáil Eireann, and the existing enactments and regulations as to audit be adapted accordingly.

EMOLUMENTS.

That remunerative work taken up voluntarily and to which an official would not be entitled by virtue of his principal office under the Poor Law shall not rank as an emolument for pension purposes.

GRATUITIES.

That the payment of Gratuities to officers of under 10 years' service shall, at the discretion of the County Council and Borough Council, be extended over a period of, say, five years, and be payable quarterly.

NOTICE OF ABOLITION OF OFFICE.

That when this Scheme is approved by Dáil Eireann and the appointed day fixed, Boards of Guardians shall give the necessary notice of abolition of office (terminating on the appointed day) to each official concerned, and shall pass a resolution granting to such officials as are entitled thereto a superannuation on the basis set out above.

NO FURTHER LIABILITY.

That officials whose offices are abolished under this Scheme are to have no further claim for loss of office beyond the provision embodied in these resolutions.

WESTMEATH COUNTY SCHEME.

1. All the Workhouses in the County to be abolished as such.

2. The Workhouse at Mullingar to be converted into a County Home for the non-sick inmates of the County. The Hospital attached hereto to be used for the sick and accident cases from the existing Rural District of Mullingar.

3. The body of Athlone Workhouse to be closed, the Hospital to remain for the sick from the Urban District of Athlone and from the existing Rural Districts of Athlone No. 1 and Ballymore.

4. Delvin Workhouse to be completely closed.

5. The County Home at Mullingar to be called "Westmeath County Home," and to be governed by a Committee of sixteen members, one half of whom shall be appointed by the County Council and the other half by the District Councils of Athlone Rural, Athlone Urban, Delvin and Mullingar, in the proportion of two from each District Council.

6. Coole Rural District to be amalgamated with Delvin Rural District.

7. Ballymore Rural District to be amalgamated with Athlone No. 1 Rural District.

8. The Athlone Hospital to be managed by a Committee, on which are to be represented the County Council and the District Councils, Rural and Urban, for the Districts to be served by that Hospital.

9. The expenses of the Athlone Hospital Committee to be on a valuation basis as heretofore.

10. The expenses of the Westmeath County Home Committee to be a County-at-Large charge as regards administration and establishment charges, and to be a District Charge per capita for charges known as Inmaintenance and Clothing, provided that the County Council and the several District Councils may agree to a flat rate on the valuation basis up to a certain poundage rate for all charges.

11. Each Committee to be supplied with funds by the County Council per their own Estimates and Demands to be prepared after a consultation with the Union Clerks, and the Union Estimates and Demands for the current financial year to be reduced accordingly.

12. Poor Law Unions and Poor Law Guardians to cease to exist for all purposes.

13. The business of the Board of Guardians relating to the Institutional relief of the sick and poor of the County to be transferred to the Committee of Management of the County Home and of Athlone Hospital respectively.

14. The remaining business of the Boards of Guardians, with the exception of home help, to be transferred to the District Councils.

15. The remaining business of Athlone Board of Guardians arising in County Roscommon to be transferred to Athlone No. 2 District Council.

16. The remaining business of Athlone and Ballymahon Boards of Guardians arising in the County Westmeath to be transferred to a Joint Committee to be appointed by the Athlone Urban District Council (with Ballymore amalgamated) out of their respective bodies. The expenses of the Joint Committee to be borne by these District Councils on a valuation basis as heretofore.

17. The remaining business of the Delvin Board of Guardians and of the Granard Board of Guardians arising in the County Westmeath to be transferred to Delvin Rural District Council (with Coole Rural District Council amalgamated).

18. The remaining business of the Mullingar Board of Guardians to be transferred to the Mullingar Rural District Council.

19. The Government Bounty to County Roscommon in lieu of rates on the Barracks of Athlone to be paid to County Westmeath in future. County Roscommon to be no longer liable for expenses arising in Westmeath in connection with Athlone Courthouse.

20. Patients admitted to Athlone Hospital as urgent cases from that part of the County Roscommon convenient to Athlone Town to be paid for by Roscommon County Home and Hospital Committee on a capitation basis, or at a fixed rate per head if mutually agreed upon.

21. The present system of distributing outdoor relief to be abolished, and the Relieving Officers to be superannuated or compensated for loss of office.

22. District Councils will co-operate with members of sub-committee of the County Home and Hospitals Committee in supervising and checking distribution of Home Help.

23. The term Home Help to be substituted for Outdoor Relief.

24. Payments in respect of Home Help to be made by the Secretary of the County Home and Hospitals Committee. All liabilities of Athlone District Hospital to be discharged in a similar manner.

25. Distribution of Home Help to be done in future by Paying Orders. Application for temporary allowance to be made on special forms. The Councillor for the District must vouch for in writing the bona fides of the applicant. These applications when dealt with by the District Committee will be forwarded with recommendations to the Hospital Home Committee. Where necessary books of Paying Orders covering a period to be sent to applicant. Each Order to be dated as to when payment is available.

26. To meet urgent cases every Urban Councillor and every District Councillor will be supplied with Emergency Help Forms. These forms to be used in cases where necessary to provide for a burial or supply a coffin. All emergency help cases dealt with to be brought before the next meeting of the District Committee in the area concerned and in the form prescribed.

27. The Athlone No. 1 District Council will in addition co-operate in dealing with contracts for repairs and contracts for supply of materials and provisions. Any and every order made by such Sub-Committee and District Council, whether for supplies of materials, provisions, repairs or award of Home Help, to be ratified by County Home and Hospital Committee.

28. Demands formerly made by the Boards of Guardians to be now made by Hospital and Home Committee who will receive monies direct from the County Council.

29. Children at present in Workhouses to be boarded out or sent to Industrial Schools. The amount for boarding out or otherwise to be fixed by the Home Committee.

30. Clerks of District Councils shall forthwith proceed to adjust accounts in respect of Unions abolished as from date of removal of inmates and patients to County Home and Hospital.

31. Officers under Dairies and Cowsheds Order to be dispensed with.

32. Two Inspectors be appointed who will be responsible for supervising Home Help distribution duties of Sanitary Sub-Officer and Inspector of Dairies and Cowsheds. They will also be required to inspect boarded out children in the County.

33. The Home and Hospitals Committee to be appointed triennially after each election.

34. The Scheme will come into operation on the 1st day of November, 1921.

35. Any matter or thing arising under this Scheme and not provided for, to be settled between the local bodies affected thereby, with the approval of the County Council and the ultimate sanction of the Local Government Department.

WEXFORD COUNTY SCHEME

1. That the four general Workhouses in the County be abolished.

2. That the following institutions be established:—

( a ) A County Home at Enniscorthy for the aged and infirm homeless poor (who cannot be boarded out with "Home Assistance"), for chronic cases, expectant mothers (unmarried) and idiots and epileptics; and for such children as cannot be boarded out.

( b ) A County Hospital at Wexford for the treatment of medical and surgical cases.

( c ) A County Fever Hospital at Wexford for the treatment of all infectious diseases, and for observation purposes.

( d ) A District Hospital at Gorey for the treatment of medical and surgical cases of an urgent character arising in the Gorey District.

( e ) A District Hospital at New Ross for the treatment of medical and surgical cases of an urgent character arising in the New Ross District.

( f ) An Annex, to accommodate 12 patients, to be built to the District Hospital at Gorey, for fever patients from Gorey District, and pending its erection that these patients be accommodated in a ward of the Workhouse Infirmary.

3. The present Workhouse buildings at Enniscorthy and Wexford, and the Fever Hospitals at Gorey, New Ross and Wexford, to be utilised for the purposes of the Scheme.

4. That an authority be created, to be called the County Board of Public Health, consisting of 30 members, to exercise the following powers:—

( a ) Powers of management and control of the County Home and Hospitals, including the Mental Hospital at Enniscorthy. (The Mental Hospital to be managed by the present Committee but under the general supervision of the Public Health Board, to which body it shall submit its estimate and annual report.)

( b ) Powers and functions of the present Boards of Guardians.

( c ) Any other powers and functions delegated to them by the County Council.

( d ) The composition of the first Board to be as follows:—

8 County Councillors.

4 Chairmen of Rural District Councils.

4 Representatives of Boards of Guardians.

2 Representatives of the Wexford Corporation (one to be the Mayor of Wexford for the time being).

2 Representatives of the towns of Enniscorthy and New Ross.

1 Representative of the Town Commissioners of Gorey.

4 Persons nominated by the County Council.

3 Representatives of the County Insurance Committee.

2 Representatives of the County Medical Association.

(1.) For ordinary administration of the Public Health Board, seven members shall form a quorum.

(2.) The Board of Health may carry out any of its functions through appointed sub-committees, and may appoint a sub-committee to discharge any special function. Such sub-committee is to be subject to the Board of Public Health in the same manner as the Board of Public Health shall be subject to the County Council.

5. The area of charges for expenses incurred in connection with the institutions established in connection with the Scheme is to be as follows:—

Administrative charges for County Home, County Hospital and District Hospitals in New Ross and Gorey to be County-at-Large charges, and the maintenance of patients in the County Hospital, County Home, and the District Hospitals chargeable to each Rural District, according to the number of patients.

The mode of admission to the new institutions is as follows:—

To the County Hospital.

( a ) On an order of Admission signed by a Medical Practitioner.

( b ) Members of the Public Health Board shall be empowered to give an order to any poor person to be examined by any of the Medical Officers.

To the County Home.

Admission is to be by an order signed by any member of the Public Health Board, or of a Sub-Committee, or of any person authorised by the Public Health Board, for that purpose, with, in each case, the added signature of any clergyman.

WICKLOW COUNTY SCHEME.

1. That County Wicklow be a unit for the purposes of administering the duties hitherto performed by Boards of Guardians and kindred services, in the County, which shall be co-ordinated under, and administered by, one Authority on behalf of the County Council, and it shall be known as the County Board of Health. That all proceedings of the County Board of Health shall be subject to the approval of the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann.

2. That the County Board of Health shall consist of twenty members, eleven of whom shall be County Councillors appointed by the County Council; seven District Councillors, one of whom shall be appointed by each of the four Rural and three Urban District Councils in the County; one representative appointed by the County Insurance Committee; and one Representative appointed by the County Medical Association.

3. That the quorum for meetings of the County Board of Health shall be five.

4. That the County and District Councillors appointed on the County Board of Health shall continue to serve as members of the Board only so long as, they remain qualified as such Councillors during the term of office of the Council by whom they were appointed, and up to the date of the first Annual Meeting of such Council. The remaining two members shall serve for such period, not exceeding three years, as the County Insurance Committee and County Medical Association, respectively, shall decide.

5. That the appointment of members constituting the first County Board of Health be made by the existing Councils, and the other bodies as above, at the first meeting of each held after it has been notified to them that this Scheme has been duly adopted and finally sanctioned by the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann.

6. That in addition to the control and management of any Home, Hospital, or other Institution set up or established pursuant to this Scheme all powers hitherto vested in Boards of Guardians (except so far as they affect the supervision and payment of Dispensary Medical Officers and District Maternity Nurses) shall be transferred to the County Board of Health.

7. That the powers hitherto possessed by the existing Boards of Guardians in relation to Dispensary Medical Officers and District Maternity Nurses, be vested temporarily in the County Board of Health until such time as the Local Government Department shall otherwise order and determine.

8. That the County Board of Health, so far as it considers expedient, and subject to the limitations hereafter specified, may carry out its functions through the agency of Committees.

9. That such Committees shall be appointed by and act under the direct control of the County Board of Health. The Committees shall only have powers of recommendation, and may be dispensed with at any time.

10. The Amalgamation Committee, believing that it is advisable to avail, so far as possible, of existing organisation strongly recommend the County Board of Health to constitute the required Committees from the members, for the time being, of the several Rural and Urban District Councils, and the County Council.

11. That all payments when authorised shall be made by the County Board of Health by means of Advice Notes and Paying Orders.

12 (a). That all appointments necessary for the working of this Scheme shall be made by the County Board of Health and subject to sanction by the Local Government Department.

12 (b). That the County Board of Health shall reappoint to analogous positions qualified officers of existing authorities, so far as required, who are retired under this Scheme, and that such appointments for the purpose of subsequent superannuation shall be reckoned from the dates of the original appointments.

13. That one central officer be appointed to act as Secretary to the County Board of Health, and to perform in addition any other services that may be appointed.

14. That on a day to be appointed by the County Board of Health, the three Workhouses in the County Wicklow shall be abolished as such, and the Institutions hereinafter provided under this Scheme shall come into being.

15. That on a day, also to be appointed by the County Board of Health, the County Infirmary, Wicklow; the Fever Hospital, Wicklow; the Fever Hospital, Arklow; and the Fever Hospital, Newtown-Mount-Kennedy, shall be abolished and the services rendered hitherto, by these Institutions shall come under the control of the County Board of Health through the Central County Hospital, to be established pursuant to paragraph 17 of this Scheme.

16. That one Home for the aged and infirm, chronic invalids, and expectant mothers shall be established for County Wicklow, and that the buildings at Rathdrum shall be utilised for the purpose.

17 (a). That one County Hospital shall be established for County Wicklow, and that the buildings now used as County Infirmary and Fever Hospital at Wicklow shall be utilised for the Hospital, and employed for the purpose of treating all acute cases on a paying basis, destitute patients to be paid for by the County.

17 (b). That one Fever Hospital for the County be established at Shillelagh, and that the buildings there be utilised for the purpose.

18. That the system of boarding out shall be applied to all persons eligible for same, and that only those to whom this system, cannot be applied shall receive institutional treatment.

19. That the term "Outdoor Relief" shall disappear, and that "Home Help" shall be substituted therefor.

20. That as under the new system there will be no Relieving Officers, applications for "Home Help" shall be made on special forms which, when dealt with by the Local Committee, shall be forwarded to the County Board of Health.

21. To meet urgent cases every member of the Committee appointed under this Scheme shall be supplied with Emergency Help Forms, which shall also be used in cases formerly dealt with by Relieving Officers, where it is necessary to provide for burials, or to supply coffins. Such member shall also be empowered to issue, in urgent cases, tickets for admission to the County Home, or the County Hospital; to engage cars for the conveyance of applicants, and suitable attendance if requisite. Just as in cases involving applications for Home Help, all cases of Emergency Help shall be brought, on the prescribed form, before the next meeting of the Committee for the area concerned.

22. Prior to admission to the County Home, the aged or infirm person, if he (or she) be in receipt of a pension or other allowance, must

( a ) Sign an agreement handing over the pension or allowance, or pay 10s. per week or other agreed sum, to the County Board of Health.

( b ) Or sign an order authorising the Secretary to the Board to draw the pension or allowance on his (or her) behalf, and to lodge it to the credit of the County Board of Health.

( c ) Said agreements to be signed before the Committee, or, in cases of urgency, before any member thereof.

23. No person to be admitted to the County Home until it is proved conclusively that he (or she) cannot be maintained outside.

24. The Relieving Officers, also acting as Sub-sanitary Officers, shall relinquish both appointments.

25. The Office of Sub-sanitary Officer shall be abolished and there shall be in each Urban and Rural District area one Public Health Inspector (not a Medical Officer) who must possess necessary training in his duties, and who will be available to fulfil other duties for the Council, by whom he shall have been appointed.

26. That each officer of any Board of Guardians, Joint Committee of Management, or other Authority, whose position is affected by this Scheme shall relinquish office on a date to be fixed by the County Board of Health, and shall be paid compensation or a superannuation allowance for loss of office, at a rate computed in accordance with the terms of Circular No. 52, issued by the Minister for Local Government, and dated 27th September, 1921, and No. 55, dated 18th October, 1921. To give effect to this paragraph Boards of Guardians and Joint Committees of Management shall give the necessary notice of abolition of office to each official concerned and shall pass a resolution granting to such official compensation, or a superannuation allowance computed as defined.

27. That the County Council supply the County Board of Health with the necessary funds for the administration of the duties entrusted to it on an Annual Estimate and Demand made by the Board on the Council in accordance with the procedure provided by Article 45 of the Accounts Order, 1905, modified and adapted to this purpose.

28. That for the present financial year the County Council, on receipt of Demands from the County Board of Health, shall advance from time to time, as may be required, such sums of money as will be sufficient to meet its requirements.

29. That the Accounts of the County Board of Health shall be audited half-yearly by an Audit or appointed by the Local Government Department, and that existing enactments and regulations as to audit be adapted accordingly. Further, the County Board of Health shall report, as fully as may be required, half-yearly to the County Council on the several matters entrusted to it under this Scheme.

30. That the area of charge for the services rendered pursuant to this Scheme by the County Board of Health be as at present, and for this purpose each Urban District in the County be grouped with the adjoining Rural District as heretofore.

31. That the charges for maintaining the County Home and County Hospital be reckoned at per head and calculated on the collective number of days system.

32. That a Stocktaker be appointed, subject to the sanction of the Local Government Department of Dáil Eireann, by the County Board of Health to value all articles in the different Institutions affected by the Scheme, and that each Rural District be credited with the value of such articles as are taken over by the County Board of Health.

33. That upon this Scheme becoming operative all necessary financial adjustments shall be made as between Boards of Guardians, Joint Committees of Management, Rural Councils, the County Council, and County Board of Health.

34. The County Board of Health shall assume responsibility for loans due by the several Boards of Guardians.

35. That each Board of Guardians be responsible for the transfer of their own inmates to the County Home or County Hospital, on a date to be fixed by the County Board of Health, failing which the said County Board of Health shall be empowered to board out children and such other inmates as they consider advisable; to discharge able-bodied persons, to arrange for the transfer of the remainder to the County Home or County Hospital, and to do all other things necessary to give effect to the Scheme.

36. That on a date to be fixed by the County Board of Health "Unions" as administrative areas shall be abolished and Boards of Guardians shall cease to function.

37. That the County Board of Health shall, as early as practicable, adopt, subject to sanction by the Department, Standing Orders for the Regulations of Procedure and Business.

SECOND SCHEDULE

COUNTIES.	Date of Scheme coming into operation.	Date of Amendments coming into operation.
Cavan	16th September, 1921	25th March, 1922.
Clare	26th October, 1921	—
Galway	22nd November, 1921	—
Kerry	1st August, 1921	—
Kildare	14th February, 1922	—
Kilkenny	7th November, 1921	—
Laoighis	1st May, 1921	30th November 1922
Leitrim	5th November, 1921	—
Limerick County Borough	2nd March, 1922	—
Limerick County	27th June, 1921	—
Longford	4th April, 1922	—
Mayo	1st October, 1921	—
Meath	18th November, 1921	—
Monaghan	9th September, 1921	—
Offaly	4th August, 1921	—
Roscommon	21st March, 1921	—
Sligo	26th September, 1921	—
Tirconaill	6th December, 1921	—
Waterford	22nd November, 1921	—
Westmeath	1st August, 1921	—
Wexford	25th October, 1921	—
Wicklow	16th November, 1921	—

THIRD SCHEDULE

Sums of Money.	Local Authority to which advanced.	Date of Advance.	Date for Repayment.
£ s. d.
4,400 0 0	Wexford County Council.	17th August, 1921.	20th September, 1923.
3,000 0 0	Kerry County Council.	19th August, 1921.	30th September, 1923.
4,400 00	Donegal County Council.	3rd October, 1921.	20th September, 1923.

FOURTH SCHEDULE

Sum of Money.	Local Authority by which paid.	Date on which paid.	Person to whom paid.
£ s. d.
4,000 0 0	Mayo County Council.	31st December, 1922.	The Minister.
500 0 0	Roscommon County Council.	25th February, 1922	The Minister.
2,500 0 0	Roscommon County Council.	25th February, 1922.	The Minister.
2,500 0 0	Monaghan County Council.	29th August, 1922.	The Minister.

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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Irish Legislation >> Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act, Number 9/1923 URL: http://www.bailii.org/ie/legis/num_act/1923/0009.html

Irish Legislation

Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1923