MR. MAC NEILL (Donegal, S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether he is aware of the condition of the Donegal Workhouse for the past four years, through the action of the Protestant majority of the Board of Guardians of that institution; whether these Guardians, under the Chairmanship of the Orange Grand Master for County Donegal, have systematically excluded Catholics from every official position in the house; whether, when on two occasions a vacancy for schoolmistress arose, they at each time set aside the Catholic candidate, though more eligible, and appointed a Protestant; whether they refused several applications for a catechist to teach prayers and Christian doctrine to the Catholic children; whether, afterwards, they on several occasions declined to appoint a Catholic assistant teacher to the workhouse, although strongly recommended and sanctioned by the Local Government Board; whether he is aware that 90 per cent of the inmates, and nearly all the children, are Catholics; whether he is aware that Sir George Trevelyan, when Chief Secretary in the 1775 Liberal Government, and the Local Government Board expressed disapproval of the conduct of the said Guardians; whether the parish priest, the Very Rev. Hugh M'Fadden, resigned the chaplaincy of the said workhouse, on account of the persistent refusal of the Protestant majority of the Board to grant a religious education to the Catholic children; whether, in consequence, the workhouse of Donegal is without a Catholic chaplain for the past four years, 90 per cent of the inmates without divine service in the house on Sundays and holy days, and without the opportunity of practising their religious duties; and, whether the Government will take any, and, if so, what, means to remedy grievances suffered so long?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY(Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.)This matter has been frequently before the House during the last few years, and I fear I can add nothing to the answer given to a Question in similar terms last April, by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Newcastle (Mr. John Morley.) It is greatly to be regretted that the local differences cannot be arranged; but neither the Government nor the Local Government Board has any power to interfere.
§ MR. CHANCE (Kilkenny, S.)asked, if the Local Government Board had power to disband, if he might so call it, Boards of Guardians, as they did in the case of the New Ross Board of Guardians?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURYes; the Local Government Board have power; but it could not be exercised in such a case as this.