§ MR. FLYNNI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Under-Secretary for Ireland, replying to the communications from the Commissioners of Intermediate Education in regard to their request for the appointment of permanent inspection, stated in December, 1902, that the Irish Government was entirely in favour of a system founded mainly on inspection as distinguished from a system founded mainly on examination; whether he can state on what grounds His Excellency refused to recommend the scheme to the Treasury; and when the change, legalised by the amending Act of 1900, will be carried into effect.
§ MR. WALTER LONGYes, Sir; but the letter in question proceeded to refer to the fact that the statutes governing the intermediate system required the continuance of examination as the principal factor in regulating the distribution of grants to schools, and the question therefore arose as to whether the resources available for education in Ireland were so great as to justify the simultaneous existence of the two methods—examination and inspection—of testing results in one department. As to the concluding inquiries of the Question, I beg to refer to my reply to 94 the Question of the hon. Member for North Dublin yesterday.†