§ MR. T. M. HEALYTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether he is aware that there is no Roman Catholic chemist from Dublin, Belfast, Cork, or Galway on the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, which consists of twenty-one members; whether since Sir Dominic Corrigan was nominated by the Crown at the incorporation of the Society in 1875, no Roman Catholic has ever been elected president, vice-president, secretary, or treasurer; whether a Roman Catholic is or ever has been a professor or lecturer in the schools of the society; whether no Roman Catholic is or ever has been an examiner for the licence of the society, or for the qualification of registered druggist or assistant; whether, out of over 700 druggists holding the certificates of the society, only about thirty-one subscribe to assist it to enforce the Pharmacy Act; and whether the Government will consider the advisability of taking steps to modify the constitution of the society.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) The Government has no official knowledge of the matters alluded to in this Question. The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland was constituted by the Act 38 and 39 Vict., c. 57, and the mode of election of members of the council and its officers, and of the appointment of examiners, is prescribed by statute and regulations issued there under. Religious tests are not imposed, and the Government sees no necessity for imposing them.