§ MR. E. B. ROCHEwished to ask a question of the right hon. Baronet the Secretary for the Home Department. About twelve months ago the Irish Colleges Bill passed that House, and Cork had been fixed upon as one of the places where those colleges should be located; but, up to that moment, there was no appearance of such intention being carried out, either with regard to Cork or, he believed, any other part of Ireland. He wished, therefore, to ask the right hon. Baronet whether the Government really intended to carry out the law; and, if so, why was it that ordinary despatch had not been used—for, if it had, numbers of persons at present unemployed, and amounting in number, in Cork alone he believed, to 37,000, would have found employment; or, whether they (the Government) had come round to the opinion of his hon. Friend the Member for Kilkenny, and believed these colleges were to be infidel institutions?
§ SIR. J. GRAHAMsaid, he had no difficulty in stating that, so far from there being any neglect on the part of the Government to proceed with the colleges, charters of incorporation constituting those colleges had been granted; the presidents and vice-presidents had been appointed; at Belfast the site had been chosen, and he believed it had also been chosen at Galway; and within the last two or three days, the presidents and vice-presidents having been appointed, they had submitted to the Government the by-laws and the curriculum of education which they recommend for adoption.