MR. PEEL DAWSONsaid, he wished to ask, Whether any advice has been given by the Government to the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland to alter the rule as to the attendance of children in the National Schools during the hours of religious instruction?
§ MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUEsaid, in reply, that no advice was given by the Government to the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland to alter their rules with regard to the attendance of children during the hours of religious instruction. The Commissioners had long felt that their rule was unsatisfactory, and, of their own accord, they proposed to adopt a new rule upon the subject. It was moved, he believed, by Lord Kildare, and adopted by a majority of the Commissioners; but, being a fundamental rule, it was in the usual course submitted to the Lord Lieutenant and the Government. The Government gave it their careful consideration, and were not prepared to adopt it precisely in the shape in which it was proposed. They thought it necessary that it should be accompanied by a provision, which would be in the hands of Members shortly, and the object of which would be to preserve scrupulously one of the principles of the national system—that of parental authority in the matter of education. That proviso was submitted to the Commissioners by the Lord Lieutenant, with an intimation that the rule would be approved with the addition of that proviso. The Commissioners accepted the addition; and the rule, with the added proviso, has received the sanction of the Lord Lieutenant.