HC Deb 09 June 1884 vol 288 cc1777-8
MR. SEXTON (for Mr. ARTHUR O'CONNOR.)

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If it is the fact that there is only one industrial school for boys in the province of Connaught; whether any representation has been lately made to him on the subject; and, whether the Irish Government will afford the same facility and aid towards the establishment and maintenance of industrial schools in Connaught as are now afforded elsewhere in. Ireland?

MR. TREVELYAN

There is at present only one industrial school for boys in Connaught. There were formerly two others, which were closed in consequence of mismanagement. An application for a certificate for a boy's school at Letterfrack, in the county of Galway, is at present before the Government. It is desirable to remember that industrial schools are not merely local institutions, but are open for the admission of children from any part of Ireland, and that, therefore, children from Connaught may be received into schools in other parts of the country. At the present time the Government feel great difficulty as to granting certificates for new schools anywhere. The proportion of payments to industrial schools in Ireland, as compared to those in England, is nearly three to one as compared with the population.