§ MR. N. J. MURPHY (Kilkenny, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether in the case of schools in necessitous districts or in districts where, owing to local circumstances, it is extremely difficult to obtain funds for educational purposes, there is any provision to empower the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland to award to the managers of such schools grants sufficient to cover the entire cost of the erection of new buildings; and whether buildings so erected may be vested in local trustees.
§ MR. CHERRYIn needy and congested districts the Commissioners of National Education may, when in a position to certify that no local aid can reasonably be expected or that a less contribution than one-third will be forthcoming, be empowered to grant a larger proportion of the cost of the erection of new buildings than two-thirds, provided that in the case of localities not officially scheduled as congested districts, the Commissioners of National Education and the Board of Public Works, with the aid of the Local Government Board, agree upon a suitable criterion of poverty for determining what districts should be put in this category. Conferences are being held between representatives of the Boards referred to, but a final decision has not yet been arrived at on the subjects Buildings for which grants in excess of two-thirds of the estimated cost are allowed must be either vested in the Commissioners or leased to trustees for school purposes, the Commissioners being in every case a party to the lease.