§ MR. DILLON (Mayo, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he can state the amount originally allocated by Parliament to the Irish National Teachers' Pension Fund, and from what source did this money come; what is the present amount of this fund, and from what source did this increase arise; and what was the amount of the receipts and expenditure respectively for last year?
§ MR. HANBURYThe Teachers' Pension Fund was constituted under the provisions of the National School Teachers (Ireland) Act, 1879, and was endowed under the same Act with a sum of £1,300,000, drawn from the surplus of the Irish Church funds. The assets of the fund amounted on the 31st December, 1897, to £1,910,867 0s. 1d. The increase has been derived from two sources, namely:—(1) the surplus of annual income (consisting of interest on investments and premiums deducted from teachers' salaries) over annual expenditure (consisting of gratuities and pensions paid), such surplus income being carried to the capital of the fund; and (2) amounts voted by Parliament towards securing the 'ultimate solvency of the 1216 fund—£90,000 in 1891–92, £95,434 in. 1896–97, and £18,000 in 1897–98. The receipts of the fund in the year 1897, including the two last-mentioned grants of Parliament, amounted to £177,132 9s. 1d.; the expenditure amounted to £49,341 2s. 10d. But with regard to this, and to the apparent increase of capital, it must be borne in mind that, as the system has only been 18 years in operation, the claims on the fund have not yet reached their normal amount, as only a comparatively small proportion of the teachers have been pensioned.
§ MR. DILLONI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he can state the sum voted by Parliament for superannuating Irish National teachers in 1878, and what was the amount for the past year; whether teachers of ordinary National schools who did not join the pension scheme obtained their share of the arrears of fee grant in a similar manner to the teachers of convent and monastery schools; at whose expense and at what cost was the amount of arrears due to each teacher respectively calculated; and if the money has not been paid, what is the cause of the delay?
§ MR. HANBURYThe amount voted by Parliament in 1878–79 for gratuities to incapacitated teachers on retirement (including teachers in model schools) was £7,200. The amount voted in the last financial year for gratuities and pensions to those teachers was £18,500. Government have no information as to any teachers in National schools who, having declined to enter the pension scheme, might put forward a claim in respect of "arrears of grant." If there be any such they should apply to the Board of Education. With regard to convent and monastery schools, the amount voted by Parliament was handed over to the managers, and Government have no information whether any portion of it went to individual teachers; but probably it did not do so, as most of such teachers are monks or nuns. The calculations referred to cost about £650, mostly charged to the Vote for National education. These calculations were directed to be made in consequence of a letter addressed to the 1217 Chancellor of the Exchequer by representatives of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation in July last, in which they expressed their willingness, if the question of the payment of the so-called "arrears" could be re-opened, that part of any such payment should go to make up the deficiency in the premiums for pensions paid by the teachers since 1885, and that for the future the teachers should bear one-fourth of the total cost of their pensions. As this letter was subsequently withdrawn by its writers, no further steps were taken in the matter.