IRELAND.
Introductory.— In Ireland the state of edu cation has been most deplorable, and is still far behind the rest of the kingdom. This is due to poverty, to politics, and to religious bigotry. The difficulties caused by bigotry and politics when a Protestant minority was in power in the earlier half of the 19th century caused those who were responsible for elementary education to steer a cautious and ineffectual course; a different set of difficulties due to the same causes, working through the priesthood and the politicians, prevent any thorough reform to-day. And always the grinding poverty of the nation as a whole has hindered the schools and the teachers from being brought up at any given time to the standard which prevailed in English or in Scottish education.
Elementary Till the end of the 18th century Catholic schools were illegal, and existed chiefly as ((Hedge Schools?' Con siderable funds were spent, chiefly in encourag ing proselyting institutions. In 1831, however, the present system administered by the Board of Commissioners of National Education in Ire land was introduced, and has continued without any sweeping changes to this day. Elementary education is controlled by 20 Commissioners. Their report (Jan. 1915) showed 8,207 schools with an average of 700,265 pupils, and an aver age daily attendance of 72.6 per cent. Roman Catholic schools number 4,441, with 389,437 pupils, and 1,553 Protestant schools with 116,969 pupils.
The most hopeful feature in Irish education in recent years has been the establishment of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, created in 1899, which, beside ad ministering technical instruction, has acted as the adviser of the National Commissioners with regard to teaching agriculture and elementary science in the elementary schools, and in enabling the teachers to obtain instruction in these and kindred subjects. The report of the Belmore Commission, in 1898, showed the most deplor able backwardness in all modern developments of primary instruction. Progress is being made, though it will naturally take years to overcome the neglect and ignorance of ages.
Secondary Education.— The chief agent in secondary education in Ireland, apart from the board which administers the endowments, and before the establishment of the Technical In struction Board, has been the Commissioners of Intermediate Education. In 1878 this board was founded and endowed with five million dollars from the funds of the disestablished Church of Ireland. In 1890, $250,000 a year were added to this income. The money, how ever, has been awarded on the results of exami nations, and before the system was reorganized in 1902 the whole scheme was one of payment by-results run mad. In 1913 an act was passed
providing for grants, and in 1914 an annual sum of $200,000 was granted by Parliament to ward the salaries of teachers. The Technical Instruction Board is doing most admirable work and is being well seconded by the county coun cils.
University The Elizabethan foundation of the University of Dublin and Trinity College, which practically form one body, has throughout its career had a marked success as a Protestant university on the lines of Oxford and Cambridge. Tests were abol ished to a great extent in 1793, and finally in 1873, but the Catholics have never as a body accepted Trinity as a national institution. The three Queen's colleges, founded in 1845, have had even less success in this respect, and the Queen's University, in which they were amal gamated, was replaced in 1879 by the Royal University of Ireland. As Secretary of State for Ireland, Mr. (now Viscount) Bryce formu lated in 1907 a scheme whereby Trinity College, Queen's College and a new college for Roman Catholics were to be merged in a new “Univer sity of Dublin?' but the plan was opposed by the Dublin University Defense Committee and the Irish bishops on religious grounds. The British government then proposed to establish one university in Dublin and another in Belfast, the former for Catholics and the latter for Protestants, although no religious tests were to be enforced in either. Finally, the National University of Ireland was founded in Dublin and the Queen's University of Belfast in 1909. The former makes a specialty of the Irish lan guage—a compulsory subject of matriculation, while the latter grants degrees, exhibitions and scholarships alike to female and male students. The report for 1914-15 gives approximately 347 teachers and Z620 students in the Irish univer sities. The number of male students is neces sarily influenced by the war.
Higher Education of Women have been admitted to the examinations and de grees of the Royal University from its founda tion, and have since been allowed to attend the lectures of the Queen's colleges. For a long time Trinity College and the University of Dub lin would not admit them either to lectures, ex aminations, or degrees. The examinations were conceded first, the lectures followed; and now women who have been at Oxford and Cam bridge, and require a degree for teaching or other purposes, obtain it freely at Dublin and Belfast, which thus drive a flourishing business at the expense of their less progressive rivals.
of Education, Committee of Council on Educa tion in Scotland and Commissioners of National Education in Ireland, also Reports of Royal Commissions, and Special Reports on Educa tional Subjects (Board of Education).