§ MR. CLANCY (Dublin County, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether, in the case of Irish male teachers in national schools in that country under the age of forty-eight years, with a constant service from the age of eighteen, the maximum pension 695 obtainable is only £10 a year, no matter how highly classed such teachers may be; and, if so, whether the Government propose to deal with the matter in the present session.
§ MR. RUNCIMANAn Irish male teacher cannot retire on pension until he has reached the age of fifty-five, unless he can satisfy the Commissioners of National Education that he has become permanently incapacitated for further service, in which case his disablement pension would depend on his age and the amount of his contributions to the Pension Fund, accumulated at coin-pound interest—these contributions, etc., being repayable to him at the same time. The minimum disablement pension for a male teacher of the first division of the first class, aged forty-seven, is £8 18s. 8d., with a sum of £48 15s. repayable as premiums, etc. It is impossible to state what the maximum pension would be. The Answer to the second part of the Question is in the negative.