§ Mr. SWIFT MacNEILLasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether his attention has been directed to the position of 1245W Irish national school teachers who have received promotion without any financial advantage owing to the limitation by the Treasury of the number of teachers receiving first grade salary; whether he is aware that in the latter part of 1908 the Commissioners of National Education reluctantly issued a circular informing teachers and managers that, owing to the limitation of standard numbers in the first grade, it would be impossible to pay all teachers promoted to either section of that grade the increase in salary to which their promotion entitled them, and that the service given during the period of paper promo-lion would not count in awarding future increments; and whether, having regard to the fact that this regulation is in violation of rules sanctioned by the Treasury, notably Rule 105a, which provides that teachers promoted from a lower to a higher grade receive on promotion the salary fixed for the grade to which they are promoted, immediate attention will be directed to the request of the teachers to the Irish Government and the Treasury to allow the Commissioners to pay to fifty teachers the increments and arrears earned by their promotion to a higher grade in accordance with Rule 105a of the Commissioners of National Education, which have been withheld from them in contravention of the rules of the Commissioners?
§ Mr. BIRRELLMy attention has been frequently directed to this point. The Commissioners of National Education issued a circular in June, 1908, calling attention to the terms of Rule 102 (c). which provides that the number of teachers recognised in each grade is to be fixed from time to time by the Commissioners, and pointing out that the fulfilment of the prescribed conditions does not entitle a teacher to promotion unless there is a vacancy. So long as any limit is placed on the numbers in the several grades some teachers fully qualified for promotion may have to wait before they receive an increase of salary; while the removal of such limitations would not only entail an increased charge on the Votes, but might have a serious effect on the Teachers' Pension Fund. I cannot admit that the Commissioners' Rule 105 (a) has been violated; it must be read with Rule 102 (c). There should not, however, be any possibility of misunderstanding on the part of the teachers with regard to their prospects; and I am giving the whole subject my most careful considera- 1246W tion, with a view, if possible, to having it placed on a clear and satisfactory basis.