§ * MR. DELANY (Queen's County. Ossory)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can explain how it is that the Roman Catholic clerks in the veterinary branch of the Agricultural Department are debarred from all hope of promotion or increment of salary, while certain other clerks who were transferred from that branch to Merrion Street offices, were, with the exception of one Roman Catholic, all given substantial increases of salary, in contradistinction to those remaining in the veterinary branch. The hon. Member protested against the insertion at the Table of the word "Roman" before "Catholic," without consultation with him.
§ MR. ATKINSON (for Mr. WYNDHAM)The position of the clerks who had been employed in the former veterinary department prior to their transfer to the Department of Agriculture has been explained on more than one occasion by my right hon. friend the Chief Secretary. There is absolutely no foundation for the suggestion that the Department acted to the prejudice of any of its officials in consequence of their religious beliefs, which are quite unknown to the Department and have never formed the subject of investigation.