|
 | |  | |
Pat Smyth, a civil servant with the National Assistance Board in West Tyrone from the 1930's to the 1950's, recalls his memories, experiences and the larger than life personalities he encountered on the way.
In Tyrone, sadly, there was a tendency for impoverished men to delay getting married until they qualified for the means-tested age pension at 70. I got a right 'gunk' on one occasion when I went to see a new claimant who lived in Crockatanty.
A fresh-faced buxom lady answered the door and when I asked if I could see her father she reacted with a puzzled look. I repeated my request, named the claimant and disclosed my identity. Her face brightened up at once.
'Oh! Come on in,' she said 'He's expecting you. It's my husband you want'. Feeling a right mug, I sheepishly stepped inside, to find my client with an infant in his arms - literally holding the baby, while his young wife answered my knock
Barney McMinn of 'Augnascreeba' was a fine example of the effect of the welfare benefits on matrimonial bliss, or lack of it in Tyrone. Barney married late in life, very late, and his bride was a traveller no more than half his age. He had an old age pension and an impoverished mountain croft: ten or twenty acres of useless scrub land - all whins, heather and stone ditches. The dwelling house had outhouse adjoining, and only a chimney marked the difference.
Barney's buxom lady was very fertile and wee ones arrived in quick succession. This got Barney a ribbing in the pubs every time he went to 'The Cross Fair.' He had a short fuse and it only took a few taunts to wind him up. Usually young lads in the pubs had him flinging off his coat, rolling up his sleeves and displaying his biceps to manifest his virility, which was being questioned.
With the seventy pension, plus children's allowance and assistance, Barney soon had an income that he couldn't handle. Before he had got the pension he hadn't a two half pence to rub together. Now, when he emerged from Omagh Post Office with a handful of money and got a few jars, he was apt to splash out on something for which he had no earthly use. Then rows and ructions broke out when he got home.
His wife's principal weapon was to leave him and go home to her mother, taking the younger children with her and leaving Barney to fend for himself and the older children. She always got on the phone immediately to tell us she had left, knowing that we would have to recall the assistance book.
Barney would bring it in and put all the flame on his Missus'. Even when he arrived home with the top-of-the-range hedge clippers from Crawford and Wilson's, it was 'the wife's fault'. He had as much need for hedge clippers as a merchant seaman would have had for them aboard ship.
The last row that I witnessed before he lost entitlement to assistance, was over a cow that he had bought 'for milk for the childer'. I called personally as his antics intrigued me, and he proudly led me next door to view the animal in the byre. I enquired how much milk she was giving and he showed me a tiny wee can, which he said she filled twice a day. I immediately twigged that he had been sold a stripper!
'Is she in calf, Barney?' I enquired. 'When is she due?' 'I don't know' Barney murmured. 'I suppose I should have asked?' And so it went on. A fool and his money...
They lost (or sold) all their clothing coupons and had to rely on a second-hand clothes shop at Carmen. We had to withhold part of his allowance weekly and supervise deals with the second-hand clothiers once a month. They nearly drove us round the bend. Never did one single client cause so much paper work. But it all ended unexpectedly.
Some 'smart Alec' persuaded Barney to sell him the land! The price wasn't earth shattering but the capital sum was enough to disqualify Barney. 'Hal-a-loo-yah' cried the Senior Clerk who had Barney on his case list.
Just before I left Omagh when I was motoring near Barney's we came across three new bicycles in a tangled heap at the bottom of a brae. The children who were picking themselves up were unmistakably from Barney's flock. The capital was being spent!
I wonder how long it was until Barney was once again on his uppers? His old age pension and family allowances would not have fed the six or eight mouths in the family indefinitely. But meantime public funds were being saved!
Pat Smyth, 2001
| |  | |  |
To add a comment you must first login or join for free, up in the top left corner.
|
|
