I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the documents on which the Irish Court of Appeal based their judgment in the case of the Wexford County Council v. The Local Government Board for Ireland were circulars of the Board, copies of which were sent to every county council in Ireland; and whether, seeing that it was in accordance with those circulars that the salaries of certain local officers were fixed in most of the thirty-three administrative counties of Ireland, and in view of the fact that the Court of Appeal has declared the principles laid down in the documents referred to erroneous and illegal, it is intended to maintain the sealed orders which are based upon them.
I am unable to accept the hon. Member's representation of the precise grounds of the decision of the Irish Court of Appeal in the cases mentioned. It is impossible to describe in the form of an answer to a question the exact position in which matters now stand and the proceedings which it may be necessary to take in the future, and I think it would be better to defer all explanation until the whole question can be discussed on the Appropriation Bill.