§ MR. MACVEAGH (Down, S.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state if a national teacher, the average daily attendance at whose school for the year ending 31st March, 1903, reached 29.3 or 29.4, is debarred from receiving second grade salary; whether, in the event of the attendance for the year ending 31st March, 1904,reaching thirty or upwards, he will be entitled to be placed in the second grade; and whether promotion to a higher grade is made from year to year as average attendance warrants or is only awarded at the end of every three 677 years on conditions similar to those relating to triennial increments.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) No teacher of a school in which the average attendance for the calendar year is less than thirty is eligible for promotion to the second grade. The promotion of teachers is contingent not only on a sufficient average attendance but also on training, position in school, ability and general attainments, good service, and seniority. A teacher must, as a rule, remain three years on the maximum of a grade before he is considered eligible for promotion to a higher grade.