§ DR. G. B. CLARK (Caithness)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state the number of Members of the Senate, Fellows, and Examiners of the Royal University of Ireland who are Roman Catholics and who are Protestants, and how much each section receives as salary or emolument; whether it is the case that the President of the Queen's College in Cork is a Roman Catholic, and 1672 that 116 of the 206 students in that college are Roman Catholics; and whether the President of the Queen's College of Galway is also a Roman Catholic, and 46 of the 105 students in that college belong to the Roman Catholic faith?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe religious denominations of the Senate of the Royal University of Ireland, consisting of 36 members, exclusive of the Chancellor, are equally divided, one-half being Roman Catholics and the other half Protestants. The Chancellor belongs to the latter denomination. There is no official record at the University of the religions of the Fellows, Junior Fellows, or Examiners, and I have no official means of obtaining information on this point. I have, however, gone to the trouble of classifying them according to their religious beliefs, assisted by the unofficial information at my command, with the following result, which may probably be taken as accurate. Of the Fellows, 19 are Roman Catholics, in receipt of emoluments amounting in the aggregate to £6,168; and 16 are Protestants, of different denominations, with emoluments amounting to £2,606. Of the Junior Fellows, 4 are Roman Catholics in receipt of £800, and 3 Protestants in receipt of £600. Eleven Examiners are Roman Catholics in receipt of £835, and 19 are Protestants with £1,181. The President of the Queen's Colleges at Cork and Galway are both Roman Catholics. The number of students at the former College is 181, of whom 98 are Catholics. At Galway College there are 90 students, of whom 36 are Catholics.