§ MR. O'SHEE (Waterford, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland how many national teachers were in the first division of the first class in 1897, when the last revision of the pension scheme was made; how many of these were, in 1897, declared eligible for pensions of £88, and were then included in the standard number; how many teachers in the division and class named were, in 1897, excluded from pensions of £88; how many of those excluded in 1897 have since been included for such pensions; how many then excluded still so remain; on what principle are those teachers placed in a worse position than other teachers having the same qualification; and why is the standand number not abolished in this class as it has been in all other classes.
§ MR. MCKENNAThe numbers asked for in the first five parts of the Question 1162 are in order 559; 150; 409; 63; 346. With regard to the last two parts of the Question I must inform the hon. Member that under the rules of 1897, which are in force at the present time, the maximum pension of £88 was abolished. Vested interests, however, wore to be respected, and teachers who were eligible for the higher pension on the 1st January, 1898 —the date on which the new rules came into operation—retained their existing rights subject, of course, to the existing conditions, one of which was the maintenance of a standard number for the First Division on the First Class.