Money rejected as centenarian thought she was only 93

PRESIDENT'S GIFT:The "Centenarian's Bounty", paid by the president to mark 100th birthdays was £50 (€ 63.50) at that time. However, one letter from a Department of Social Welfare official explains that the gift was rejected by a Limerick family.

A social welfare officer visited the woman who was approaching her 100th birthday in August 1978 to tell her that she would receive the president's gift but he was met with stunned surprise from her family. He was told that she could not remember her date of birth "but believed that she was 93-years-old".

The social welfare officer spoke to the woman's daughter who said it would upset her mother if she realised that she was that old and she refused to accept the gift on behalf of her mother.

One year earlier, the daughter of a Cobh, Co Cork, woman told the visiting social welfare officer that no one in the family realised that their mother was approaching her 100th birthday. Disclosure of her age "might have a detrimental effect on her health", the woman's daughter said.

He gave the family some time to consider the matter, but when he called back he was refused permission to interview the woman and "the daughter again stated that she feared a possible bad reaction from her mother if she received a letter stating that she was 100 years".

After second thoughts, the daughter wrote to the department of social welfare to say she was willing to accept the gift on

behalf of her mother "which she assures will be spent on the pensioner".

On a sadder note, a bureaucratic blunder meant that a woman who turned 100 in February 1978 died in June without receiving her bounty.

Her application was received by the department of the taoiseach three days after her death. A senior department official wrote to the secretary of the department of social welfare calling for a re-appraisal of procedures to ensure that this did not happen again.

The Centenarian's Bounty originated with president Douglas Hyde who paid £5 to those who turned 100.

Happily for today's centenarians, the amount has since increased to €2,450. For those who turn 101, and on subsequent birthdays, the President presents a centenarian's medal, the design of which changes each year.