asked the Minister for Education if he will state on what principles or system was the distribution of interim grants made to secondary teachers in the years 1921, 1922, 1923; if he can explain on recognised educational principles how some teachers received only a fraction of the sum given to other teachers of equal or less experience; if he will state what became of the £8,000 balance from the £63,000 interim grant for 1922-23; if he will state what will be the method of distributing and allocating the interim grant for the current year, and whether the teachers will be consulted in the devising of this method; if he is aware that a number of existing secondary teachers have given efficient service to the country as fully qualified primary or national teachers; and if it is intended to take steps to ensure that the teachers mentioned in the preceding paragraph will get full credit for their service both in National and Secondary Schools when the interim grant for the current school year is being disbursed.
WRITTEN ANSWERS. - SECONDARY TEACHERS' INTERIM GRANTS.
(1) The secondary teachers' interim grant for the year 1921 was distributed according to rules of which a copy is submitted for the Deputy's information. I am not in a position to say what principle was followed by the Government of that time in drawing up these Rules. In 1922 this grant was distributed at a flat rate of £50 to each registered teacher who fulfilled certain conditions as to teaching service during the year. A copy of the Rules which governed the distribution of the grant in 1923 is attached. In framing these rules an attempt was made to see that the total amount of grant under this heading paid to the staff of an Intermediate School bore some relation to the number of pupils in attendance at the school. (2) Under the Rules referred to in the last sentence of Paragraph (1) it follows that if the proportion of registered teachers to pupils in one school was considerably in excess of the proportion in another, a teacher in the former school received a smaller share of the grant than a teacher in the latter. (3) The disposal of the unexpended balance of the grant (£6,796) is governed by the general regulations regarding the unexpended balances of all moneys voted by the Dáil. (4) The Deputy is referred to the reply given to a question by Deputy O'Connell on this matter on the 6th instant. The teachers are being consulted in the matter. (5) There is no official information available on this subject, and consequently (6) no undertaking can be given in this matter.