§ MR. FETHERSTONHAUGH () Fermanagh, N.To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether, in a case where a new national school is built to replace an old one and in a more convenient and accessible place, the Treasury regulations allow of building a larger school than the old one, to meet the expected greater attendance; what is the minimum space per head allowed by the regulations; have the Commissioners of National Education any power to vary or depart from the regulations; and is the space per head capacity of new schools in all eases to be rigidly calculated on the average attendance at the old school.
§ (Answered by Mr. Birrell.) In the case supposed in the Question, the accommodation to be provided in the new building is taken as the mean between the average number on the rolls and the average attendance at the old school during the preceding year. The minimum floor space for which provision must be made is ten square feet for each unit of the number for which accommodation is to be provided, but in schools to accommodate less that thirty-five pupils eleven square feet per unit is allowed. The Commissioners of National Education have no power to vary or depart from the regulations.