§ MR. T. M. HEALY (Louth, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Commissioners of National Education will give effect to the resolutions of the Association of Catholic Managers of the Ecclesiastical Province of Armagh; and if the Commissioners will consider the advisability of reverting to the old regulation that an average attendance of thirty-five pupils qualified for the salary of the highest grade.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) The resolutions were considered by the Commissioners. One of the resolutions recommended a reduction to fifty of the average required for an assistant teacher. This proposal would involve an additional charge of £24,000 per annum on the Estimates for Public Education. Additions of so large a character should, in the opinion of the Irish Government, be considered in relation to all other demands that may be made in respect of education in Ireland. The resolution relating to the supply of requisites has been carried out so far as manual instruction and elementary science are concerned. Other resolutions had relation to the teaching of Irish, the historical and geographical readers, and these 680 matters have since been dealt with. The resolutions in respect to the promotion and initial salaries of teachers could not be given effect to on the ground of cost. The average of thirty-five under the old regulations did not warrant salary of the highest grade. It merely warranted first-class salary, which is different from salary of the highest grade under the new regulations.