VOTE 11, PUBLIC EDUCATION (IRELAND.) (Hansard, 27 June 1873)

THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON,
in moving the sum necessary to complete the Vote for National Education in Ireland, said, the House last year had assented to an increase in the Vote, which would amount eventually to £100,000 for increased payments to Irish school teachers, chiefly determined by payments for results. Upon the whole, the increase had given great satisfaction to the teachers, and though he had not yet been able to lay on the Table the Report of the Commissioners of National Education for the past year, which would show the working of the new system, yet he thought he might say that, in the opinion of all the officers of the Board, the results so far had proved highly satisfactory. One difficulty had been experienced in applying the new system. Parliament thought that, while improving the pecuniary position of the teachers, it would be well to put them in a position of greater independence, and greater security of tenure. The grant to a manager of a school was, therefore, made conditional upon his entering into an agreement with the teacher, whereby the latter could only be dismissed after three months' notice or payment of three months' salary, unless upon sufficient cause shown; and the sufficiency of the cause was to be decided by the National Board. Considerable hesitation, however, was shown by school managers in signing that agreement. It was represented to the Government, and with much force, that the National Board were not a body calculated for the exercise of judicial functions, and that their decision must depend mainly upon the report of the Inspectors, who themselves were hardly competent to exercise such functions, not being able to examine witnesses on oath or compel their attendance. An alternative form of agreement was therefore agreed to by the Government, omitting all reference to the National Board, and leaving the teacher, in case of dispute, to his ordinary legal remedy, which would be before the Civil Bills Court, in 1504 which the procedure was extremely rapid and cheap. Cases of summary dismissal of teachers were extremely rare in Ireland; but where they did occur, he thought the protection which was meant to be given to the teachers would not be in any degree impaired by the new form of agreement. This alternative agreement had been almost universally accepted by the managers, and the additional salaries payable to the teachers had therefore come into operation in almost every school in Ireland. The progress which had been observed for many years past in the number of schools brought into connection with the Board was still observable, the number now under the Board being 7,060, which was an increase of 130 for the year. There was one circumstance which interfered considerably last year with the efficiency of school instruction in Ireland. In the early part of 1872 the small-pox and other epidemics were very prevalent in Ireland, and many schools had to be temporarily closed, while in others there was a great falling off in the attendance. An unusually inclement season had also diminished the attendance of children. In spite of these influences, however, the decrease in the number of children on the roll was not very serious, amounting only to 11,000 out of 1,010,000, while the average attendance had been reduced by 8,000 out of an average attendance of 335,000.

§ SIR COLMAN O'LOGHLEN
asked, whether any steps had been taken to provide the masters with a superannuation allowance when they became too old and too feeble to discharge their onerous duties and with suitable residences? The noble Marquess, in bringing forward the Estimate last year, promised that it should be taken into consideration, and he hoped something had been done to promote so good and beneficent an object.

THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON
said, it was necessary to be cautious, in making another appeal to the liberality of the House of Commons, but he had not lost sight of the points mentioned by the right hon. and learned Gentleman. The increased grant for the benefit of the teachers had been voted for a term of three years, and would cost £100,000 a-year, and the Government had expressed a hope that at the expiration of that time a larger contribution would 1505 be forthcoming from local resources in aid of national education. When that time came, the questions now raised by the right hon. and learned Gentleman might properly be considered.

§ SIR FREDERICK W. HEYGATE
thanked the noble Marquess and the Government for doing an act of justice to a deserving body of men, who would thereby be made more comfortable and more contented with their position. The diminished attendance referred to by the noble Marquess, in his opinion, was not only due to the causes mentioned, but in some degree to the decrease which had taken place in the population. He complained of the difficulty of properly considering the vote in the absence of the annual Report of the Board, and expressed his opinion that hereafter it would be impossible in Ireland to do without compulsory education.