§ Mr. FETHERSTONHAUGHasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland why the Commissioners of National Education (Ireland) have given notice that Drumany National School, county Fermanagh, is to be closed on 31st July, 1910; have they considered the decided objection of the parents of children attending the school to allow their children to be carried daily by van to a distant school and the cost of so doing; has not the attendance at the school been sufficient, and have not the parents of children attending it offered to bear any expense of improving the schoolhouse; have the Commissioners received and considered the representations of the rector of Kinawley against the proposal to deprive his parishioners of the only school practically available for their children?
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§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Commissioners of National Education have decided to withdraw Grants as from the 30th instant from the Drumany National School, in view of the low average of pupils, as the children can be conveyed by covered van to a neighbouring school under the same manager. The average attendance at Drumany School for each of the past five years was under twenty, and as it is almost impossible to retain a teacher of good attainments in a school of that size, in which the minimum salary only can be paid, the Commissioners are satisfied that the educational interests of the pupils will be better secured by the proposed arrangement. The increased attendance at the school to which they are to be conveyed will almost certainly be sufficient to warrant the recognition of two teachers, which will tend to more efficient instruction. The Commissioners have duly considered the representations made by the manager and the parents of the pupils, but they do not propose to alter their decision in the case.