§ Mr. THOMAS O'DONNELLasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether it is a rule of the Commissioners of National Education that the candidates for entrance to the Marlborough-street Training College are chosen in order of merit; if so, doss this rule apply to the training colleges under local management; how many candidates who passed the Easter examination in the second division were summoned to each of the following training colleges: Carysfort, Kildare Place, Limerick, Belfast, and Waterford; were any candidates who passed the examination in the first division refused admission to any of the same colleges; and whether, with a view to securing that the entrance examination to the training colleges in Ireland would be really competitive, the Commissioners will in future publish a list of the examination numbers, in order of merit, of the candidates who applied for admission to each of the training colleges?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Commissioners of National Education inform me that there is a regulation in their code to the effect that candidates for admission to the Marl-borough-street Training College who pass the entrance examination are chosen in order of merit, but there is no similar rule in the code applying to the colleges under local management. From the lists of King's scholars admitted in the current training session, which have been supplied to the Commissioners by the authorities of the colleges, it would appear that the number of candidates in attendance at each of the colleges who passed the Easter examination in the second division is as follows: Our Lady of Mercy (Carysfort) Training College, 0; Mary Immaculate (Limerick), 0; Church of Ireland (Kildare Place), 20; St. Mary's (Belfast), 1; De La Salle (Waterford), 35.
A certain number of candidates who passed in the first division are not in residence at the foregoing colleges, but the Commissioners are not in a position to say whether candidates who passed in the Second Division have been admitted to the Church of Ireland, St. Mary's, or De La Salle Training College, in preference to such candidates. The Commissioners do not propose to publish a list of the examination numbers of the candidates for the training colleges arranged in order of 1315W answering at the Easter examinations. While selecting candidates for their own college in the order of merit the Commissioners are aware that there are other considerations besides the total marks obtained, such as previous experience in schools, skill in music and drawing, or proficiency in Irish, which weigh with the authorities of the other colleges when selecting candidates for admission to training.