§ DR. KENNY (Dublin, College Green)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether, in view of the loss of income sustained by the national teachers of Ireland, owing to the abolition of school fees, it is the intention of the Government to so increase the capitation grant us to make good the loss in income of which the teachers complain?
MR. J. MORLEYThe Irish Education Act of 1892 provides £210,000 a year as a school grant, payable on the condition that in schools where the average rate of school fees received in the year 1891 was not in excess of 6s. per pupil in average attendance school fees shall be abolished. In any school, however, that had all average rate of school fees in excess of 6s. fees may still be charged, in so far that the average rate shall not in future be greater than the excess in 1891 over the 6s. per pupil. The total school fees, including the excess rate, received by the teachers in 1891 was £98,000, and in view of the amount of the school grant, which not only compensates for that possible loss, but adds £112,000, it is not possible to understand the reference in the question to loss of 'income. The capitation grant is only one of the forms in which under the Act the school grant is payable to each teacher.