§ MR. DELANYTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether, taking into consideration the irregular attendance of children attending the Irish national schools and the uncertainty of the date of annual inspection, he will recommend the Commissioners of Irish National Education to issue instructions to their inspectors to give reasonable notice to the teachers of the date of such inspection, as was done in 1903.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The Commissioners of National Education do not consider it desirable to alter the present rule relating to inspection, which is as follows: The inspectors should give due notice of their intended visits when they propose to make formal inspections. When an inspector visits a school, not for a formal inspection but with the in- 926 tention of spending a considerable time therein, he should, when practicable, cause the manager to be notified of his presence. If the manager resides at such a distance that this course would present difficulty, he should receive notification of the proposed visit from the inspector by post on the morning of the visit.