§ MR. SYNANasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, What are the conditions upon which the Commissioners of National Education, Ireland, give grants of money to Irish National Schools; whether the grants of land must be perpetual, or quasi perpetual, and the schools vested in trustees for the Board; whether the grant of £75 to the late Lord Monteagle to build a boys' school in Shanagolden, on a thirty-one years' lease, was a violation of the conditions; whether the site of the school was a plot of ground used as a commonage by the villagers; whether the Commissioners intend to continue the grant for salaries, &c. to a school in which there are only sixteen scholars, and the majority of them the children of the teachers; and, whether the Government intend to suggest to the Commissioners the propriety of giving a grant to a school to which the parents will send their children?
§ MR. TREVELYANThe first two Questions of the hon. Member are matters of great detail, and would take a very long time to answer. I have got a reply from the Commissioners of National Education, which I will show him privately. The grant of £75 was made to the late Lord Monteagle at a time when it was quite consistent with the Regulations then in force. When Lord Monteagle proposed to build the school, the law adviser of the Board inquired into the case, and was satisfied as to his title. I am informed that the Commissioners have resolved for the present to continue grants of salary to the teachers. As to the last Question, under the circumstances of the case, which I stated in answer to the Question of the hon. Member on the 19th of May, the Government do not propose to interfere with the discretion of the Commissioners.