§ Mr. JOHN O'CONNORasked the Chief Secretary if he will give for the year 1909–10 the number of pupils on the rolls of public elementary and primary schools in Ireland; the number of secondary and technical schools that receive Grants from Imperial funds, if any; the amounts of the Grants paid; and the cost of public education per head of the population for that year?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe average number of pupils on the rolls of national schools in Ireland for the year 1909 was 704,486. Three hundred and seventeen secondary schools received Grants in 1909 from the Commissioners of Intermediate Education amounting to £50,142, 286 secondary schools received Grants amounting to £27,472 from the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for the school year ended 31st July last, and eighty-seven technical schools received Grants amounting to £18,216 from the Department for the same period. The expenditure on public education in Ireland during the year 1909–10 by the several Departments concerned was as follows: Commissioners of National Education, £1,623,392; Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, £151,063; Commissioners of Intermediate Education. £75,900; Reformatory and Industrial Schools, £109,541; Commissioners of Public Works (for national school buildings), £58,638, making a total of £2,018,534. The estimated population of Ireland at the middle of 1909 was 4,371,635, and on this basis the cost per head of the population would appear to be 9s. 2¾d.