HC Deb 21 July 1890 vol 347 cc357-8
MR. PINKERTON

I beg to ask the Attorney General for Ireland whether his attention has been directed to a judgment of the Court of Exchequer, whereby it would appear that certain professors of the late Queen's University have sustained a loss of nearly one-half their incomes by the dissolution of that university, and to the observations of Chief Baron Palles and Mr. Baron Dowse as to the imperfections in the Act, which prevent the legal award of compensation; and whether Government will give effect, by legislation or otherwise, to the suggestions of the learned Judges?

MR. MADDEN

I have carefully examined the judgments delivered in the case referred to in the question by the Judges of the Exchequer Division. It is quite clear from these judgments that losses of the kind mentioned cannot form the basis for a claim for compensation under the University Education (Ireland) Act of 1879. I have ascertained that since the decision of this case, the position of the professors who are affected by it has been brought before the Treasury, and, after full consideration, the Treasury have decided not to re-open the question of compensation, but to leave it as it was determined by the Act of 1879.