§ Mr. HUGH BARRIEasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether the National Board of Education (Ireland) are proposing to withdraw all Grants from the Faughanvale (2) national school, the only Presbyterian school in the neighbourhood; whether, in view of the reasons assigned by the manager and by the Presbytery of Glendermott, and the practice of the Commissioners in similar instances, the National Board are justified by paragraph 179 (c) of the rules and regulations of the Commissioners in so doing; and, in view of all the circumstances of the case, will he ask that the proposal of the Board may be reconsidered and the Grants continued?
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§ Mr. BIRRELLThe answer to the first two paragraphs of the question is in the affirmative. The Commissioners of National Education do not consider it necessary to continue their Grants to this school as the average attendance is small, and there is within a mile of it another school under Protestant management, with ample accommodation for the attendance of these pupils. At the time the Commissioners first had under consideration the question of the continuance of Grants to the school it was found on reference to a map of the district that the pupils would have, on the whole, a shorter journey to the neighbouring school than to their own school.