§ 19. Sir WILLIAM WHITLAasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the statement that the Grant of £50,000 for Irish intermediate education was to be an equivalent Grant, and one which will vary from time to time according to the amount that may be paid for English education on the basis that for every £80 England gets Ireland is to get£9; whether on this basis this Grant should have risen by £19,400 for the past year; whether it should rise by a further 1743 £24,980 for 1919–20; and whether it is intended to make good the deficiency of £19,400, which Ireland has incurred during the past year, and to pay out the complete amount of £94,380 for the current year?
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERAL for IRELAND (Mr. A. W. Samuels)My right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary has been in communication with the Treasury on the subject of the equivalent Grant for education in Ireland. The education Grants have been given in England and Scotland on certain conditions embodied in the recent English and Scottish Education Acts. The question of Grants for intermediate education cannot be considered apart from the general claims of education in Ireland, and any "equivalent Grant" for education must have regard to Irish educational policy as a whole. The whole subject is being carefully considered by the Government.