§ Mr. LONSDALEasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether his attention had been called to an advertisement inviting 1509 applications for the appointment of assistant master in the Central Boys' Model School, and stating as a condition of the appointment that candidates must be fully qualified to give instruction in Irish; and whether he would state the grounds on which the Commissioners of National Education insist upon a knowledge of Irish as an essential qualification for this appointment, and the number of Roman Catholic children on the rolls of this school?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Commissioners of National Education inform me that, as no member of the existing staff of teachers in the Central Boys' Model School is competent to teach Irish, they have decided to appoint an assistant master qualified to teach the language, in order to provide for the instruction of a large number (over 100) of the pupils who are anxious to learn it. The Irish language is now an obligatory subject of many of the examinations for positions for which these pupils intend to offer themselves as candidates on leaving school. Out of 351 pupils on the rolls of the Central Boys' Model School on 30th June last 291 were Roman Catholics.