§ Mr. KERR-SMILEYasked the Chief Secretary if the salary of the assistant teacher in Mulnahorn girls' school, Dungarvan, has been withdrawn because she has been unable to satisfy the requirements of the inspector in her knowledge of oral Irish; if the principal of the same school has been threatened that unless she qualifies before 1st July in oral Irish she will also be dismissed; and do the Commissioners propose to put down new branches on the programme and issue orders to teachers that, unless they are qualified within a certain time to teach them, they will be removed from the service?
§ Mr. REDMOND BARRYThe Commissioners of National Education inform me that the manager of this school appointed a new assistant mistress in May last. The school is in an Irish-speaking district, and one of the conditions for the recognition of a new appointment in such cases is that the teacher should have an oral knowledge of Irish. It was found on inspection that the new teacher did not fulfil this condition, and the manager was informed that she could not be recognised as an assistant in the school. Salary was paid to her up to the end of 1909. The Commissioners consider that this is a school in which the bi-lingual programme should be taught and have told the manager so. The principal teacher has been allowed up to 31st July next to qualify for a certificate in Irish, but has not been threatened with dismissal. The Commissioners may from time to time make additions to their programme, but in all such cases they afford the teachers facility for making themselves proficient in the new subjects before requiring them to be taught in the schools.