The present conditions of the
Irish Poor Law system are set forth in the reports of various Royal and
Viceregal Commissions. The most important are those of the Viceregal
Commission on Poor Law Reform in Ireland (1906), the Departmental
Commission on Vagrancy, the Royal Commission on the Care and Control of
the Feeble-minded, and the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws (Majority
Report). The study of all these reports is a rather distracting
business. They establish between them an urgent need for reform; on the
methods, and even principles, of reform there are wide differences of
opinion. I propose to set out here, so far as may be possible, a summary
of those reforms on which the various reports and Irish public opinion
are nearly, or quite, unanimous. Such a summary may at least help to
acquaint the rank and file of the Unionist Party with the primary
conditions and necessities of a work which, for historical, moral,
social and political reasons, must receive the Party's early and
practical attention when it returns to power.
The Unionist Party, as representing the best elements in British
Government, owes in this matter a great act of reparation to Ireland.
Pages:
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506