§ DR. KENNY (Cork, S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the P. J. Keenan, whose name appears in The Dublin Gazette of July 6 and July 10, 1888, appended to Dublin Castle Proclamamations, and also to many other similar Proclamations on various other occasions, is the same P. J. Keenan whose name appears in the Estimates as paid Resident Commissioner of National Education, Ireland; if so, will he state on what grounds the said P. J. Keenan is exempted from the Rule of the Civil Service requiring all paid officials to devote their entire time to the duties of their offices, and forbids them taking part in other business; whether the meetings of the Privy Council in Dublin Castle are held during the ordinary business hours for Civil servants; and, whether it is the custom in England for Civil servants, who happen to be also Privy Councillors, to take any active part in the Executive Government of the country?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.)The gentleman referred to is Sir Patrick Keenan, the Resident Commissioner of National Education. It is not the case that his name appeared in The Dublin Gazette of the 6th and 10th of July, or in The Gazette of any other date, appended to Dublin Castle Proclamations, as he has never signed any such Proclamations. His name appears in The Gazette mentioned in two Orders of a routine character, one approving of an expenditure of money for the improvement of a lunatic asylum, and the other approving, as required by Statute, of a Rule as to costs adopted by the Judges. There is no such Rule in the Civil Ser- 1242 vice as that suggested. But, in any case, the duties performed by Sir Patrick Keenan as a Privy Councillor do not interfere with the discharge of his official duties as Resident Commissioner of National Education. The meetings of the Privy Council do not take place at any fixed hours, but are frequently held after the ordinary business hours for Civil servants.