§ MR. CHARLES CRAIGI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland what was the total expenditure, actual and pending, from Imperial funds incurred by the payment of fees for the teaching of Irish as an extra subject in national schools during the past school year; what was the additional administrative expenditure incurred during the same period by reason of the liability for payment of such fees; whether the Government, in prescribing existing scale of fees, took the precaution of imposing any limitation on the maximum amount of expenditure that may be incurred from Imperial funds for this service; and, if not, will he ask the Commissioners of National Education to furnish an estimate of the expenditure that may ultimately be reached on the basis of the fees now paid.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe Commissioners of National Education estimate that the total expenditure on the teaching of Irish as an extra subject during the past school year, along with the fees for bilingual schools, will amount to slightly less than £15,000. The additional administrative 689 expenditure was trifling, but the staff of organisers and inspectors employed in consequence of the increase of instruction in Irish cost about £2,500. The fees are paid according to a fixed scale, and the regulations governing the allocation of the grants are very stringent.