§ MR. P. A. McHUGH (Sligo, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether, in view of the fact that MR. T. P. Gill, Secretary to the Department of Agriculture and Technical Education in Ireland, addressed a letter last week to the Sligo Technical Education Committee, in which he stated that at some future date it may be found expedient to erect a new technical school building in Sligo, and that a new technical school building is urgently needed in Sligo at the present moment, can he state approximately the future date when the Department will be in a position to advance money for the purpose; is he aware that owing to want of sufficient accommodation in the present technical school in Sligo pupils seeking admission are turned away, and that the only suggestion the Department has been able to make to meet the difficulty is to establish overflow classes; and will he say 1681 what steps does the Department propose taking to assist in procuring adequate accommodation and to obviate the inconvenience and expense of overflow classes.
§ (Answered by Mr. Bryce.) Local authorities may at present obtain funds to erect buildings for technical schools by loans raised on the security of the rates. The Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction have no fund from which to make grants for the purpose; but they have brought the question of providing funds for building technical schools to the attention of the Committee of Inquiry into the working of the Department. The matter will doubtless be dealt with in the Committee's Report. I may add that a deputation which addressed me on the subject some months ago convinced me that further funds for building technical schools are much needed.