§ MR. T. M. HEALY (Louth, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) if he is aware that of those officials of the Local Government Board, Ireland, appointed otherwise than by competitive examination, 21 are Protestants and only seven Roman Catholics; and (2) what is the proportion of Protestants to Catholics in the population of Ireland?
MR. J. MORLEY(1) The Local Government Board have no official knowledge of the religious denominations to which members of their staff belong; but, as far as they are aware, the statement in the first paragraph is correct. (2) According to the Report of the Census of 1891 Roman Catholics then constituted 75.4 per cent, of the population of Ireland.