§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)I 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, pot a verdict for £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 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. GERALD BALFOURThis Question has been referred to the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland, 344 by whom it will be considered at their meeting to be held to-morrow.
§ MR. P. O'BRIENWill it be any use repeating the Question to-morrow?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURNo, Sir; I could not get the reply in time.