Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress. : Report on Ireland.

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress. : Report on Ireland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    divided itself into three bodies, to visit workhouses, hospitals, and other institutions in Ireland, and to attend meetings of Boards of Guardians. One body made a rather extensive tour of inspection through Ulster, another along the western seaboard, and the third visited a large number of institutions in the South and South-West of Ireland. Altogether we visited about a third of the Unions in Ireland during the time at our disposal for the purjDose. Some accounts of those visits, written by the Commissioners on the spot, will be found in the separate volume of reports on visits to institutions in England, Scotland, and Ireland.^ 7. The Vice-Regal Commission had not included in their terms of reference the question of distress arising from unemployment. Though Ireland, being an agricultural country, is not as nnich affected by this question as the great industrial centres of England and Scotland, yet, we deemed it right to have some evidence on the operation of the Unemployed Workmen Act of 1905 in Ireland. We accordingly circulated amongst the various Distress Committees a list of questions, which, together with the replies received thereto, will be found in the Appendix. ^ We also directed our special investigator, Mr. Cyril Jackson, to proceed to Ireland and make inquiries, and we p)rint in the Appendix the very valuable rejDort ^ received from him on the subject. Mr. Nannetti, the Ex-Lord Mayor of Dublin, the Lord Mayor of Belfast, the Mayor of Cork, the Mayor, and the High Sheriff of Waterford, and the Mayor of Drogheda, attended the Commission and gave evidence of unemployment in their respective cities. 8. As in England and Wales, and Scotland, we took a census of the persons reheved in Ireland on 31st March, 1906, classified by age and physical condition. The results of this enquiry will be found, in the Appendix. At our request, the Local Government Board for Ireland obtained a return of all persons relieved during the year ended 30th Septeml)er, 1907, sho^^'ing the period and recurrence of their rehef, and this return has been published as a Parliamentary Paper. Summary Tables have also been printed in the Appendix * to this Report. 9. We have now to consider to what extent our recommendations for Reform in England harmonize with those of the Vice-Regal Commission. 10. We propose to follow generally the scheme of arrangement adopted in the Report already submitted to Your Majesty dealing with England and Wales, and we therefore, now proceed to give a sketch of the past and present state of the law as regards the poor in Ireland, and the institutions established for their relief 1 Vide Appendix Vol. XXVIII. 9 X 3 „ „ „ XIX B. 4 „ „ „ XXXI.