§ Mr. HUGH BARRIEasked the Chief Secretary whether his attention has been called to the fact that two of the gentlemen appointed to act on the Committee of Inquiry into the Irish education system were formerly national teachers and, as such, identified with the Irish teachers' organisations, and that one of these gentlemen was for many years central secretary of the said teachers' organisations and that his wife was a national teacher; whether he is aware that the other gentleman is at present a professor in one of the Irish training colleges, and that his work in that capacity is subject to criticism by the inspectors of the National Board; whether he will explain how these gentlemen can be unprejudiced judges of the matters in controversy between the National Board and the teachers; and whether he will reconsider those appointments or, as an alternative and inasmuch as the teachers have now two representatives, will he appoint two representatives of the school inspectors on the Committee?
§ Mr. BIRRELLTwo of the members of the recently appointed Committee appear to have been at one time of their lives national school teachers. One of them was once secretary of the teachers' organisation, but for the last twelve years has been a Local Government Board inspector, and the other has been a Professor in the Kildare Place Training College for more than twenty-five years. The past experience of these gentlemen will, I am sure, prove of great service to the Committee, and I see no reason for reconsidering their appointment. To put representatives of the inspectors on the Committee would, in my opinion, having regard to the terms of reference, be most undesirable.