HC Deb 12 June 1896 vol 41 cc955-6
MR. J. P. FARRELL (Cavan, W)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, (1) whether he is aware that in 1895 a petition from the 94 inhabitants of Crodromin, Brocklagh, Carrick, Kilmahon, Lettergeeragh, Lettergullon, and Barnagh, in the parish of Drumlish, county Longford, was presented to the Commissioners of National Education, setting forth that in consequence of the number of infant children in these townlands and the distance of the three nearest schools, a new school was urgently required; (2) is he aware that the landlord has given a lease of a plot of ground, and that the inhabitants have collected a considerable quantity of building materials; (3) in view of the fact that the Board's Inspector visited the place and promised the inhabitants that he would recommend the site, will he explain why, in a letter to the parish priest dated 21st June 1895, they refused assent to it, in consequence of which refusal a large lot of poor weak children have to travel five miles a day in going to and returning from school; and (4), will he advise the Board to withdraw their opposition and allow the school to be erected?

THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR,) Leeds, Central

The facts are as stated in the first and second paragraphs. The site of the proposed school is not objected to, but it is less than three miles by road from several existing schools, and the Inspector states that the completion of an unfinished road in the locality will materially increase the facilities for reaching the existing schools. Under the Board's rules no grant can be made in respect of a new vested school where the site is within three miles by road of an existing vested school, except under special circumstances. The establishment of the proposed new school would seriously injure the existing schools, and, in the opinion of the Commissioners, the school-going population in the locality would not warrant a grant for the building of an additional school. Should, however, school accommodation for infants be provided either by loan from the Board of Works, or otherwise, the Commissioners would be prepared to consider an application for grants of salary.