§ MR. KNOXI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether there are any means by which the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland, if they are attacked in this House by a Minister of the Crown, can place their views before Parliament, in order to vindicate their action and to repel the charges brought against them?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR,) Leeds, CentralIf, as I assume it does, the Question relates to the statement made on 30th March last by my right hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, when the subject of the Irish Fee Grant was under discussion in this House, I may say that I cannot admit the accuracy of its description. Apart, however, from this, it would be wholly contrary to official usage, and obviously opposed to the best interests of the public service, for Her Majesty's Government to recognise a claim on behalf of any Department which may suppose itself aggrieved to appeal to the public by a controversial statement issued as a Parliamentary Paper or otherwise.