§ MR. MURPHY (Kerry, E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether, in districts where the Irish language is regularly spoken, managers of schools will be permitted to substitute in the programme the teaching of Irish for any other subject that they may consider unsuitable to the district concerned.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe Commissioners of National Education inform me that, under their rules, the bilingual programme may be adopted in schools in which the majority of the pupils speak Irish as their home language, provided that the teacher can speak Irish fluently, and that instruction through the medium of English is given to any exclusively English-speaking pupils whose parents so desire. Irish may also be taught as an ordinary subject in other schools, but not so as to interfere with proper instruction in the school curriculum generally.