§ MR. W. KENNY (Dublin, St. Stephen's Green)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the staff of the Office of Education in Ireland, existing at the date of the Order in Council of the 21st of March, 1890, were, up to that date entitled to certain official holidays exclusive of their annual leave; if they have been deprived of seven of these holidays since 1890, although the Order in Council preserved the rights of existing clerks; whether the staff of the Local Government Board of Ireland still enjoy the same number of holidays to which they were entitled before 1890; and if he will use his influence to have these holidays restored to the Education Office clerks?
MR. J. MORLEYThe reply to the first and third paragraphs is in the affirmative. As regards the second paragraph, I am informed by the National Education Board that they considered that the exigencies of the business of their Department precluded them from having two different sets of holidays for the official staff—exclusive of the annual vacation—and that they accordingly adopted the uniform limit of seven days in 1890. According to Treasury interpretation of the clauses in the Orders in Council on the subject of holidays, it is perfectly clear, however, that the Heads of every Department have the power of exercising an independent discretion, subject to a maximum number of holidays, and that the staff of a Department have no absolute right to that maximum.