§ MR. MOOREasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether, in reference to the case of Mr. Owen Ryan, at the date of his appointment in the Milford Street Male School, Belfast, which was on the 10th October 1882, there were only six assistants previously employed in the School; and, further, if it is true that the manager of the said School has, on 1320 several occasions, written to the Board requesting that Mr. Ryan be recognised as seventh assistant; and, if so, why do the Commissioners regard him as the eighth applicant for salary?
§ MR. TREVELYAN, in reply, said, that the original application of the manager of the Milford Street Male School, Belfast, was for the recognition of Mr. Ryan and another teacher named M'Dermott as seventh and eighth teachers. The Board could not recognize both, as the school was not qualified for an eighth assistant. It was a matter of indifference to them which of the two they recognized as seventh; and in finally communicating their decision they specified Mr. M'Dermott, as his name had been placed before Ryan's in the latest communication which they had received from the manager of the school. It was the case that the manager wrote several times to the Board; but his letters were quite as much in support of his claim for an eighth assistant as in the interest of Ryan. The hon. Member is, perhaps, not aware that the manager had since dismissed Ryan altogether from his service on account of grave misconduct.