§ MR. T. M. HEALY (Louth, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland by what authority or under what rule did the officials of the Board of National Education in Ireland impose in April and in June, 1904, as a condition for making a 22 building grant to the manager of the schools at Kilmeedy, county of Limerick, that he should transfer the infant boys to the girls' school, and agree to the amalgamation of the schools if at any time the average in either of them fell below fifty; and will the grant be still refused in case the manager again applies for it.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) Under Rule 191 (a) of the Code of 1905, which is in the same terms as Rule 67 (a) of the preceding Code of 1903, the Commissioners, before making a grant towards building a schoolhouse, must be satisfied that a necessity exists for the proposed school. They were not satisfied that a necessity existed for the class of school for which the manager of the existing Kilmeedy Schools sought a building grant, and hence the imposition of the condition referred to in the Question. The principles involved in this condition had long been recognised by the Commissioners, who were fortified in their conclusions by the general consensus of expert educational opinion, including Mr. Dale's Report on Primary Education. These principles have since been embodied in the Commissioners' Code of Rules. The Commissioners are still prepared to consider an application for a building grant subject to the condition already communicated to the manager.