§ MR. HEALYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland What steps have been taken by the Donegal Board of Guardians to fill up the vacancy caused by the resignation as chaplain of the Rev. Hugh M'Fadden P.P. on the 28th of April 1883; is it 162 the intention of the Local Government Board to take exception to the conduct of the majority at that Board who fail o provide a chaplain to give religious Service in the House, and to administer the last rites of the Church to the Catholic inmates; whether the Local Government Board will overrule the action of the majority in refusing the appointment of a catechist for the Catholic children, which appointment the Local Government Board has approved of; and, whether he is aware that Father M'Fadden is paying a salary to a catechist for instructing the pauper children n the church on Sundays?
§ MR. TREVELYANIt does not rest with the Guardians, but with the Local Government Board, to appoint a chaplain, and to call on any qualified clergyman to accept the office. In this case the Roman Catholic inmates of the workhouse are able to attend Mass in the town. The parish priest can attend at the workhouse when sent for. The Local Government Board have no power to overrule the action of the Guardians in refusing to appoint a chaplain, and they had no information as to any private disbursement being made. They do not think that any inquiry could be made with propriety into the subject.
§ [No reply was given.]