MR. PATRICK O'BRIENI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the suit of O'Sullivan v. Hunt, tried before the Lord Chief Baron and a special jury at Dublin on the 20th instant, in which the plaintiff, who was head mistress of the Leislip National School for 28 years, got a verdict of £221 10s. for wrongful dismissal and slander against the Very Reverend Canon Hunt, P.P., manager of the said school; is he aware that Mrs. O'Sullivan was dismissed at a moment's notice without any justifiable complaint against her as a teacher, and thus deprived of her means of living and the opportunity of completing the three years' time qualification to entitle her to the maximum retiring pension; whether, in view of the very high certificates as a teacher which Mrs. O'Sullivan holds, and all the circumstances of the case, he will see that the Board of National Education will allow her the full pension to which, but for this illegal dismissal, she would have become entitled in a few years; whether, under the rules of the Board of National 716 Education in Ireland, managers have this power of dismissing teachers without any right of appeal; if so, whether he proposes to make any change in the system for the protection of teachers against the exercise of that power?
§ MR. ATKINSON (for Mr. GERALD BALFOUR)I have been informed that some negotiations have taken place with a view to the reinstatement of Mrs. O'Sullivan in the position she hitherto occupied, and I would ask the honourable Member to repeat his Question on Thursday, when the Chief Secretary will probably be in a position to give a fuller reply.