I move to delete the third item of the Schedule, which is:—
|
4 & 5 Geo. V. c. 41 |
The Intermediate Education (Ireland) Act, 1914. |
Section 2. |
The third item proposes to delete Section 2 of the Intermediate Education Act, Ireland, 1914, which is as follows:—
"From and after the commencement of this Act, there shall be paid to the Board each year out of moneys provided by Parliament a sum not exceeding forty thousand pounds, provided by Parliament, and an amount equivalent to the sum so paid (in this Act referred to as the Teachers Salaries Act) shall be applied by the Board in manner provided by rules made by the Lord Lieutenant under the Act, and approved by the Treasury."
Seeing that this matter was debated fully on the occasion of the Second Reading of this measure, and that the whole debate centred around the deletion of this paragraph, I do not think it is necessary for me to go into the matter again at great length. The opinion was held then that if this paragraph were deleted the rules governing the distribution of the Teachers' Salaries Grant, which were framed in pursuance of this section, would, as a matter of course, fall if the section were repealed. That was the case which we made, and we object to that because these rules are very important so far as the position of secondary teachers is concerned.
The rules provided that a minimum salary would be paid, that a contract of agreement would be entered into in each case, and further that a certain definite number of lay teachers would be employed in the schools. The Minister expressed some doubt on that occasion with regard to the contention which was then made to the effect that the rules would go if the section went. I am now in a position to say that the opinion which we then expressed has been reinforced by the very definite opinion of a leading lawyer who was consulted in the matter, and who has given it as his opinion pretty definitely that if this section is repealed the rules will go along with it; and not only that, but that, as a matter of fact, it wipes out the £40,000 grant altogether.
The Minister was rather unfortunate, I think, in his first Bill in putting into that Bill this provision, which created a very considerable amount of suspicion, if I may use the word, although, perhaps, the word may be too strong— a considerable amount of uneasiness in the minds of the secondary teachers. His announcement yesterday, of course, will have gone some way to remove that uneasiness, but undoubtedly there was very considerable ground for uneasiness in the fact that his first measure was a proposal which, in fact, took away from the secondary teachers what they had fought for so strenuously in 1914. But the principal point to which I wish to direct attention is that for the main purpose for which the Bill is intended it is not necessary to make this repeal. The main purpose for which the Bill is intended is to give permission to the Department to alter the basis on which grants are distributed to Intermediate schools. It is necessary to secure that alteration in order to effect the first two repeals mentioned in the Schedule; but I maintain that it is not necessary for that purpose to have the third item inserted in the Bill, for the reason that the Department has full freedom to alter the Rules, if an alteration is necessary, on which the distribution of this particular grant is based. I, therefore, move the amendment. I think that the Minister must know from the Debate which took place on the Second Reading what the case is, and how strong the case for the abolition of this particular item is.
