§ MR. CHARLES CRAIGTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, if he will state the grounds on which the Commissioners of National Education have refused to make a grant towards the building of a new national school at Islandbawn, county Antrim, to take the place of the present building which they have condemned as being too small; whether he is aware that Islandbawn School has been in existence for over fifty years, that the population of the district, in the middle of which the school is situate, has quadrupled in the last ten years and is rapidly increasing, and that if Dunadry was made the centre for a school many of the children who at present use Islandbawn School would have to walk four and five miles to school; and whether, in the event of the Commissioners persisting in their refusal, he will have a special inquiry made as to the necessity of retaining Islandbawn School in its present position.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Commissioners of National Education inform me that they refused to make a grant in this case because they are clearly of opinion that three schools in the locality in question, of which Islandbawn School is one, require to be superseded by a school centrally situated in relation to the school areas concerned. The Commissioners are aware that the Islandbawn School has been for a long time in existence, and that 879 the population of the locality is increasing. The increase, however, is not taking place in the immediate vicinty of Islandbawn School, and the Commissioners are of opinion that a central school at or near Dunadry would adequately meet the requirements of the district. The Islandbawn School is about three-quarters of a mile from the proposed school at Dunadry, and the Commissioners are satisfied that none of the pupils who attend the former school would be unduly inconvenienced by having to attend at Dunadry. The matter is one for the determination of the Commissioners, and does not call for the interference of the Government.