§ MR. JAMES DALY (Monaghan, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland—(1) if he can say whether an audit of sums paid to the National School teachers of Ireland takes place every five years; and, if it has been found a teacher has been overpaid, has a refund to be made by the teacher; (2) whether he will cause an audit to be made by the Treasury to ascertain if the National School teachers of Ireland have been paid all they were entitled to be paid since 1892; (3) whether he has seen it stated in the Freeman's Journal, of 15th June, in a letter from Archbishop Walsh, Dublin, that the National School teachers of Ireland, since 1892, have been underpaid the sum of £110,000 by the Treasury; and (4) what course will he take to have the National School teachers of Ireland paid this sum of £110,000?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI am informed that there is no quinquennial audit as implied in the Question. If an over-payment should at any time be discovered, the necessary steps would be taken, where practicable, to recover the money improperly paid. The question which has been raised as to the proper payments for certain years since 1892 is not one of audit, but of the interpretation of an Act of Parliament. With regard to the third and fouth paragraphs, I have seen the letter referred to, and am unable to add to the statements already made by my right hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on the subject.