§ MR. HARRINGTON (Dublin, Harbour)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether, in the scheme substituting capitation grants for school fees to national teachers in Ireland, any provision will be made for assistant teachers; and whether, at least in the case of those assistant teachers who have hitherto been in receipt of portion of the school fees, care will be taken that they are com- 1034 pensated in some form for the abolition of the fees?
MR. J. MORLEYAs already explained, the Irish Education Act of last year provides an annual school grant of £210,000 in compensation for the partial or entire abolition of school fees. About one-half of this grant is payable in the form of augmentation of class salaries of principals and of salaries of assistants. The residue of the grant is payable in the form of capitation, and the allocation of a share in this portion of the grant to assistants depends upon their having had any share, under their agreements with their managers, in the school fees prior to their abolition. The assistants who hitherto have had a share of the school fees will receive a corresponding share of the residual portion of the grant, and they, in common with all other assistants, have already received their salary augmentation.