MR. J. P. FARRELLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to a public statement made at several county meetings of the Irish National Teachers' Association in Ireland, that the pension fund is in a bankrupt condition; and whether it is now proposed to appropriate the arrears of school grant due to the teachers to remedy this state of affairs; whether he is aware that the teachers strongly object to this; and will he take steps to induce the Treasury to place a Vote in Aid on the Estimates for the current year?
* MR. GERALD BALFOURThe hon. Member is evidently not aware of the answers already given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary to the Treasury in this matter. The arrears of the School Grant will be appropriated to the Pension Fund, but more than this will be required to restore its solvency. The Treasury, I understand, are prepared to deal with the question, and I have no reason to believe that the teachers are dissatisfied, or have any cause to be dissatisfied with the arrangements proposed.