Negotiations with Catholic headmasters collapse

Negotiations between the government and the Irish Catholic Headmasters' Association on the issue of a grant of £40,000 for the improvement of the position of secondary school teachers have collapsed.

The collapse in the negotiations has led to the publication of a lengthy correspondence between Augustine Birrell, the Chief Secretary of Ireland, and Canon Murphy of Limerick, on behalf of the Irish Catholic Teachers’ Association. This correspondence reveals a series of disagreements over the nature and purpose of the grant proposed by the government. On several occasions something of a resolution seemed in sight only for a new disagreement to surface.

Ultimately, Canon Murphy offered the view that any prospect of agreement over the terms of the government grant was rooted in a 'serious misunderstanding somewhere' and that public opinion could not tolerate the government’s proposal. It is not clear how negotiations might be restarted.