§ Mr. JOYCEasked how many national teachers in. Ireland were excluded from participation in the war bonus lately granted to that body; what reason, if any, has been assigned for their exclusion, since they are not Civil servants, and have to contribute largely towards their pensions; and how many English, Scottish, and Welsh teachers have been so treated?
§ Mr. DUKEThe general Regulations governing the payment of the war bonus to nation school teachers in Ireland are similar to those sanctioned for Civil servants, except that women teachers are allowed the war bonus at the same rate as men. Teachers whose incomes from other sources are in excess of £3 per week are excluded from obtaining the benefit of the war bonus in common with Civil servants with like incomes. The number of teachers so affected is about 500. I am not able to state what restriction has been adopted in the case of English, Scottish, and Welsh teachers. The case of the Irish teachers differs wholly from that of the teachers in Great Britain.
§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland when, by whom, and with what Irish educational approval the new rule has been made depriving of the war bonus teachers who, while undergoing a course of training, are paying substitutes; whether he is aware that, owing to increased cost of outfit and living, enforcement of this rule would force some of the best teachers to leave the training colleges and abandon the teaching profession: what is the estimate of the amount required to give a separate war bonus to the substitutes without withdrawing theirs from the teachers; and whether, in 1744W all the circumstances of economy on education in Ireland, he will obtain this from the Treasury?
§ Mr. DUKEWhen a recognised national school teacher enters a training college as a King's scholar and employs a qualified substitute to take his place, the teacher continues to receive his emoluments, including the war bonus. The substitute receives his emoluments from the manager of the school or from the teacher for whom he is acting, and the Commissioners of National Education have prescribed as the minimum rate of pay for a substitute the minimum salary for the third grade augmented by the war bonus. King's scholars in training colleges are maintained at the expense of the State and have not to meet the increased cost of living for which the war bonus was intended to provide. The substitutes have to meet the cost of living out of their emoluments.