Gorey Gaelscoil debacle - astonishing legal smackdown

Padraig Mor

A few outlets today reporting the end of a long court battle between the principal of a Gaelscoil in Gorey, who had been dismissed by the Board of Management. The former principal has now been found completely in the right - so far, so non newsworthy.

https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2023/07/19/unfairly-dismissed-principal-who-endured-terrible-injustice-over-11-years-must-be-reinstated-judge-rules/

https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wexford/gorey-news/high-court-rules-that-co-wexford-principal-suffered-a-terrible-injustice-over-his-unfair-dismissal/a44117892.html

However, the text of the judgement itself is astounding in its absolute smackdown of the Board of Management, and especially its chairperson Melanie Ní Dhuinn - I don't think I've ever seen such a vociferous judgement, the judge seems furious!

"In a scathing criticism of Ms Ní Dhuinn and the Board of Management, Mr Justice Cregan stated that: “the suggestion therefore that Mr O’Suird was plucking numbers out of thin air was false. The persons responsible for this debacle are Ms. Ni Dhuinn and the board of management. Almost every single decision they took leading to Mr. O’Suird’s dismissal was unreasonable; the decision by Ms. Ni Dhuinn not to complete the investigation into the single child incident by end January 2013 was unreasonable; her decision never to finish the single child investigation was unreasonable; her decision to keep Mr. O’Suird on administrative leave while she carried out her other investigations was unreasonable; her investigation into these other matters was a rush to judgment; her decision to make allegations against Mr. O’Suird in respect of eight other matters without a comprehensive report was unreasonable; her decision to let all these other allegations hang over him throughout the hearing was unreasonable and tainted the disciplinary hearing; her allegations of fraud and fraudulent misrepresentation were manifestly unreasonable; her refusal to interview any member of the previous Board in circumstances where Mr. O’Suird said that everything he did was done with their consent was manifestly unreasonable; her delay was unreasonable; the board’s decision to dismiss Mr. O’Suird was unreasonable; its concealment of evidence was unreasonable; its decision to appoint a new principal even though Mr. O’Suird had appealed to WRC was a blatant attempt to pre-empt the jurisdiction of the WRC, the Labour Court and the High Court and to set at nought certain remedies these bodies might order including reinstatement.”

"Ms. Ni Dhuinn was made chairperson of the Board of Management in December 2011. Within weeks she had destroyed all the work done by her predecessors. It is a shocking legacy".

Plenty more too! Much more detail in Gript than the links above. For the former principal, there's vindication....and there's 140 pages of a judge saying you were right and they were wrong.

https://gript.ie/judge-describes-injustice-against-wexford-principal-is-festering-wound/

hoodie6029

Read the IT article this morning. Took forever for this case. Mediation could have sorted this much sooner but sounds like the BOM dug their heels in in the hope the Principal would give up.

What is puzzling me is how the judge thinks reinstatement is the best remedy here. After 11 years would the Principal want to go back? Compensation for the lost earnings, career setback etc would be more appropriate to my mind.

BattleCorp

He'll get his back pay, pension entitlements etc. in addition to being reinstated.

From the article

Mr Ó Suird should be reinstated to his position, with all his salary and pension entitlements, from January 2013, when his administrative leave should have ended, the judge said.

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120871106#Comment_120871106

His reputation is destroyed as well as losing 12 years of teaching experience/principal experience, then he's likely going to face rumours and staff brought in while he was suspended,he might find the school isn't a welcoming place, he needs to sue the hole out of the chair of the board for what they did to him

Markcheese

I assume its the dept of education whos on the hook for all of this ,

The reinstated principal is entitled to any and all payments and pensions , but so is the current principle.. I'm assuming a board of management doesn't have that sort of cash ..

hoodie6029

You hear of cases, anecdotally, where the sides ruin each other financially through their unwillingness to compromise. Not sure what the ex-Principle’s mentality was but it certainly seems like the Chair and BOM were of the mind ‘he’s wrong, he’s out, whatever it takes, it’s black and white and that is that.’ I suppose it’s easy to fight these things to the death when your house isn’t literally at risk if you lose.

Disgraceful waste of tax payer money on all this. If they still weren’t happy with him after the original incident was resolved, there were mechanisms they could use to monitor him.

Mrs OBumble

This teacher assaulted a student.

How does he still have his teaching registration?

Hogeveen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120871508#Comment_120871508

The parents did not see it as an assault. After talking to the principal they accepted his apology and were satisfied that the matter was resolved. They wrote to the BOM twice through their solicitor to clarify this, but never got a response. The BOM were clearly too focussed on conducting a vendetta against the man to bother with the facts.

Markcheese

An apology doesnt change the past ..

If he physically assaulted a kid, theres no way he should still be teaching let alone principle ,

lulublue22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120871508#Comment_120871508

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120872027#Comment_120872027

Where does it say he assaulted a student ? He was accused of assault - the parents of the child in question did not agree that he had assaulted their child and wrote to the BOM outlining that. He was put on leave while the allegation was “investigated” by the BOM. The BOM did not investigate the alleged assault as in they did not reach a judgement on the issue nor did they follow due process but actively withheld relevant documents from the principal. The BOM subsequently terminated his principalship after they accused him of fraud in relation to the returns. Returns that the BOM signed off on and which arose due to the reporting structures that the Dep had in place at that time.

So what has emerged from this incident is that the principal was not found to have assaulted the student nor did he commit fraud but rather made an administrative error due to the deps reporting structures. This smacks of a pure witch hunt on behalf of the BOM and the judge was correct in his assessment of the boards culpability and in particular that of the chairperson. It is very telling that the parents of the child in question did not view the incident as an assault and that the BOM did not reach a decision on the alleged incident yet we still have posters who accept without any evidence that he assaulted the student and is not fit to teach. This person has had their reputation and entire career ruined by the BOM and the chairperson in particular.

donaghs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120871508#Comment_120871508

Depends what actually happened. The details seem to be missing from most articles I can find, that arent paywalled.

Kurt Godelfish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120872359#Comment_120872359

You are correct, it depends on the context and the details. Obviously context isn't important to some judging by a couple of remarks above.

From the High Court judgement:

The single child incident in January 2012

54. An incident occurred in January 2012 which lay at the root of everything that

followed. The best evidence of what happened on that day is given by Mr. O'Suird himself.

He stated as follows in his affidavit prepared for this court.

"26. On 11th January, 2012, an incident occurred while I was teaching First class in

the school. I disciplined a pupil (who I shall refer to as pupil A) in front of the class,

who then returned to his seat and deliberately stamped his feet while he did so. I lost

my temper, approached pupil A, banged his table with my fist and physically pulled

him towards me by his jumper in order to remonstrate with him. What I did was

entirely wrong, and I feel great shame in relation to it to this day. The incident passed

relatively quickly but I cannot excuse my actions in any way. It was extremely stupid

and represented an unacceptable failing on my part".

27. The following day, I learned that parents in the school were aware of the incident.

[Pupil A's parents] approached me and I discussed the incident with them in a fully

open and transparent way on 13" January, 2012, in the presence of Mr. Ni

Shullebhain. [the deputy principal]. I agreed with him that I would ask Muinteoir

Fionntan who was the learning support teacher to take first class for the time being.

28. On 14th January, 2012, I discussed the incident with Ms. Ni Dhuinn by telephone,

and explained what had occurred. I suggested that I could meet the parents of the

class as a group but Ms .NiDhuinn instructed me not to. At that time I felt Ms. Ni

Dhuinn was quite supportive of me".

29. On 16" January, 2012, I met with [pupil A's parents] again. In broad terms they

were satisfied with the meeting and that matters had been properly resolved. They

accepted my apology and they were happy that [pupil A] had not been hurt or injured

during the incident. They considered it to be a minor incident".

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120872439#Comment_120872439

I don’t get this. If he was a manager at any company and did this to a staff member he would be immediately fired. Why does he get away with doing that to a child. I think the parents being ok with this is irrelevant.

Kurt Godelfish

Malcolm Byrne, now a senator, was a member of the Board and the chairman of the Board's Disciplinary Panel which heard Mr. O'Suird's case. His role in this debacle is hardly a glowing endorsement for someone now debating legislation.

hoodie6029

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120872465#Comment_120872465

In a criminal scale it is the very lowest level of harm that you can do a person, touching without their consent but doing no harm, a ‘Section 2 assault’ as it is known.

Adding in that he was a person in a position of power over a child makes it more serious. However, that does not make it a criminal investigation or sackable offence. If all parties were happy to come to a resolution, that is the end of it.

Everyday teachers must put their hands out stop children running in the hall, touch them on the shoulder to push them into a line and stop them in other ways from harming themselves or others.

The former principal’s behaviour was a step beyond what I have described but not by much.

The remedy for his mistake certainly was not to be sacked and banned from teaching every again as some posters have suggested. Where would you draw the line? Little Johnny is running towards you, you put out your hand to stop him and he can claim assault and have you sacked?

This man lost his reputation and a quarter of his career to the vendetta against him for an infraction. A group of unsupervised and unqualified people carried out judge, jury and executioner on him safe in the knowledge (or so they thought) that they’d get away with it. As any other person would’ve given up and moved to Dubai or wherever else.

lulublue22

You are correct context is important. As a BOM member the amount of red flags is off the charts. There are structures and procedures in place to deal with such issues as alleged assault. Structures and procedures that ensure a fair and equitable hearing for all those involved, that any resultant disciplinary action is warranted and complies with relevant employment legislation. Not alone did the BOM not follow due process in terms of the time frame to address such issues , did not forward relevant documentation to the principal’s solicitor as required but did not actually investigate the issue at all. There was no formal response on behalf of the BOM to the alleged assault. There are huge safe guarding concerns in relation to the BOM.

Once the principal was on administrative leave the investigation into the alleged assault simply stopped and instead a fraud investigation on pupil returns to the dep took precedence. In what world ???? Pupil returns to the dep which the BOM had signed off on - an administrative error due to the dep reporting structures takes precedence over an alleged assault of a student. My own opinion based on my experience is that the whole situation stinks - that BOM have a lot of questions to answer.

tabby aspreme

Seems like the Chair, and the Board were on a power trip

NewClareman

As a former BOM member, I agree that there are lots of red flags. I have seen firsthand how difficult it an be to remove a Principal who was clearly underperforming. I am simply amazed at what happened here. Fair play to Mr. O’Suird for fighting on, it cannot have been easy. I suppose he had little choice, he was effectively unemployable as a teacher.

I would consider the referral to the HSE to be reasonably justified, particularly if it had happened quickly. I suspect that the Principal was well provoked, but nonetheless he did catch a pupil by the jumper. Having said that, I would have expected a expected a written warning, at most.

I would love to have more information on how the Chairperson of the BOM was appointed and how she held on to that position for the duration of this whole sorry saga. It would also be informative to know whether the second principal was in any way connected to a member of the BOM.

tabby aspreme

Who appoints the BOM Chairperson, in a Gaelscoil, is it the ETB, or is there a specific governing body over gaelscoilanna

lulublue22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120872940#Comment_120872940

I can see why the BOM would make a referral to the HSE - they came back with the view that it did not constitute physical assault but that the BOM should investigate to ensure it didn't happen again - which again is completely reasonable and justified. However not allowing the principal give his account , with holding relevant documentation from his representative , not complying with the HSE's recommendation , not interviewing former BOM members in relation to the returns just smacks of a vendetta.

In diocesan schools the chairperson is normally the patron's representative so appointed not elected. Not sure if the same system exists in the Gaelscoils. I would love to know if any and if not then why none of the other BOM members raised concerns about the lack of due process and the shoddy handling of the situation.

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120872995#Comment_120872995

It will be interesting to see if she keeps her current roles in education after this

Hogeveen

A small cabal of parents had it in for the Principal, and they made the initial complaint about the incident with pupil A. Somehow the chair of the BOM had an animus (the judge's own word) towards the Principal and the BOM rowed in with her in conducting this appalling vendetta against a very dedicated, hard working principal who was an excellent teacher and very popular with the pupils. The BOM's disregard for due process, common sense and natural justice was staggering. A whole lot of harm was done to the Principal, his family, the school, plus there is a massive legal bill to paid, ultimately no doubt by the taxpayer. As remarked above, there's a politician in the middle of all of this, a BOM member who chaired the subcommittee who fired the Principal. It's a disgrace.

TokenJogger

Well that Melanie Ní Dhuinn one sounds like a right nutcase, she should be thrown out on her ass

stopthevoting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120872439#Comment_120872439

Is there a typo there in paragraph 27? "...in the presence of Mr. Ni Shuillebhain. [the deputy principal]. I agreed with him that..." Is it supposed to be 'Mr. Ó S' or is it 'Ms.' and 'her'?

Also, how do you get the High Court Judgement. I tried various search terms here: https://www.csol.ie/ccms/highCourtSearch.html?execution=e1s1, but nothing was found.

NewClareman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120872995#Comment_120872995

It absolutely smacks of a vendetta. Either that, or they had no appropriate expertise on the BOM. Given the decision to suspend/fire the Principal I would have thought that they were getting legal advice so I doubt that lack of expertise was the issue. What really surprises me is how long drawn out this affair was.

I was only ever involved in diocesan schools so I have no knowledge of how patronage works in this case.

Gatling

Where was the department of education and Minister at that With this going on 11 years, surely a principal on suspension must have raised some flags in the department after several years let alone over a decade

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120873029#Comment_120873029

Based on what's in the press, I'd agree.

But equally, the principal is a thug: by his own admission he "physically pulled [a student] towards me by his jumper". Should not be in a classroom with children, much less in a leadership position over other other educators.

TokenJogger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120873154#Comment_120873154

Who was exonerated / vindicated by the parents and backed up by their solicitor

The blame is squarely layed at that woman's feet, simple

Boggles

Good enough for him.

Openly trying to humiliate a child in front of the whole class and then violently losing control when the young child didn't wilt. You can be damn sure it wasn't his first time either.

I remember the type of cretin too well.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120872465#Comment_120872465

You can’t be immediately fired anymore unless you’ve deep pockets

BattleCorp

Anyone else think it's strange that the parents of the child wrote to the school through their solicitor? I wonder why the parents did that? Were they under pressure from the then Principal to do so?

Mr Justice Cregan noted that, on the day before the board of management took the decision to place Mr Ó Suird on administrative leave, Mr. Garrett Fitzpatrick, a solicitor for the parents of pupil A, wrote to Ms. Ni Dhuinn.

The solicitor stated that pupil A’s parent “were satisfied with Mr. Sword’s response, and indeed, proposals” and that they “regarded the particular incident as minor in the general scheme of things and were satisfied with Mr. Swords handling of the issue. They regarded the incident as a one off and the matter has been dealt with fully to their satisfaction”.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120872976#Comment_120872976

It depends on the school. "Gaelscoil" is more of a description of the language ethos than anything else. The one on Gorey is multidenominational, and is under the patronage of An Foras Pátrúnachta, who say they have about 80 schools (primary and secondary) nationwide. The one my kids goes to is under the patronage of the local Diocese and is (nominally) Catholic, and a lot of others around the country are patronised by their respective bishops too. There's a couple that are under other specialist organisations like Ability West's special needs gaelscoil in Carraroe, Co. Galway.

Hogeveen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120873452#Comment_120873452

That would be 100% my reaction too on reading this case, but I was a parent of a child in the school at the time and spoke to the principal the day after the event took place. He was utterly repentant and ashamed of himself for his behaviour, and I never heard of any similar event with him.

lulublue22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120873736#Comment_120873736

What pressure do you think a principal on immediate suspension could bring on the parents ? More likely given the subsequent failure of the board to follow procedure that there were issues / concerns on how the BOM conduct their business. While not downplaying the incident with the child it does appear that there was a personal vendetta against the principal. Perhaps the parents did not want to be associated with that- whatever our concerns / interpretations it does appear as if any concerns / issues the parents had were addressed and they were happy that the issue had been resolved. I’ve been a member of a few boards I genuinely would not want to be associated with that level ineptitude / vindictiveness. Structures and process are in place for a reason.

ETA - the judge was scathing of the BOM and the chairperson in particular in his summary judgement which is very telling. He stated that the chairperson had single handedly undone the great work of the school in a matter of weeks. It suggests to me that the classic power corrupts is apt here.

suvigirl

Who appoints BOM of schools anyway? And what qualifications do any of them have?

Friend of mine was being interviewed for the principals position in her school, when I asked who does interviews, turns out it was someone off the BOM. I enquired as to their qualifications to hold interviews, she told me that just the way it's done. Very strange system with schools in Ireland.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120874065#Comment_120874065

From https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/education/primary-and-post-primary-education/going-to-primary-school/boards-of-management/ :

"The composition of the board of management for schools with more than one teacher is

• Two direct nominees of the patron
• Two parents of children enrolled in the school (one mother and one father) elected by the parents
• The principal
• One other serving teacher elected by the teaching staff
• Two extra members agreed by the representatives of the patron, teachers and parents"

The only qualification they need is that they have been appointed, or to put it another way: their qualification is their appointment. You don't need any specific qualifications to hold job interviews in Ireland.

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120874095#Comment_120874095

Surely the board of education or the civil service should be involved somewhere in interviewing potential teachers?

It seems rife for corruption, a few local lads and parents interviewing!

lulublue22

Interviews are conducted by a panel of 3 - chairperson of the board , principal and an independent member. Generally the independent member is a principal / retired principal. Parents do not interview. The rules and regulations including the appeals process is clearly outlined in circular 0044/2019

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120874272#Comment_120874272

Still feels a bit rife for corruption.....

Hippodrome Song Owl

The Teaching Council should now investigate Melanie Ni Dhuinn. Her conduct has been disgraceful and unprofessional. Concealing evidence is shocking.

lulublue22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120874407#Comment_120874407

The same as any company holds interviews I presume- there’s a prevailing narrative that you need to play GAA / be the nephew/ niece of the principal etc to be appointed. In my experience that’s not true does it happen I can’t say it doesn’t but it’s not something I’ve come across or heard of.

lulublue22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120874439#Comment_120874439

Teaching council has no remit vis a vis Ms Ni Dhuinn. However this incident should shine a spotlight on the training available / oversights in place or not in relation to BOM’s

Hippodrome Song Owl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120874498#Comment_120874498

Ms Ni Dhuinn is a registered teacher, and several teachers have been sanctioned for disgraceful conduct unrelated to their job as a teacher.

The fact this person who has engaged in such underhanded and vindictive behaviour has actually lead the committee that has decided such sanctions for others in the past is disgraceful.

Str8outtaWuhan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120871207#Comment_120871207

In fairness his reputation was destroyed when he manhandled a pupil and lost his cool imho.

lulublue22

Didn’t realise she is a registered teacher - in that case the teaching council should definitely investigate her conduct.

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120873965#Comment_120873965

Hmmmm. Seems like you just signed up to defend this person. Always a red flag.

Either way the chances that what the first time he abused a child is virtually nil, he became violent because a 7 year old stamped his feet.

Reading between the lines it would appear the old BOM let all manor of things slide.

Whatever about the questionable methods of the new Chairperson, she did the kids a favour by keeping this cretin away from them.

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120875304#Comment_120875304

Bit of reach ,

Even the bom wasn't reading between the lines

csirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120874095#Comment_120874095

And that's only a guideline - schools dont need to follow it. In the local school one of my kids attends, the parents reps are not elected by the parents - they are chosen by the Principal and any interested parent is told they have to be interviewed by thr Principal. Most of the other Board members are elderly church acttivists. Needless to say they are a very ineffective BOM who condtantly seem to be dealing with issues of their own making.

csirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120874095#Comment_120874095

And that's only a guideline - schools dont need to follow it. In the local school one of my kids attends, the parents reps are not elected by the parents - they are chosen by the Principal and any interested parent is told they have to be interviewed by the Principal. Most of the other Board members are elderly church acttivists. Needless to say they are a very ineffective BOM who constantly seem to be dealing with issues of their own making.

csirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120874735#Comment_120874735

Problem is that the Teaching Council doesnt employ any investigators. So no real hope of them doing anything.

The very small number of teachers they censure are almost always those who have been convicted of crimes by the Courts where the criminal justice system hss already done the investigation.

csirl

This story reminds me of something that happened in my hometown when I was a kid.

The Vice- Principal in my school was passed over for promotion to Principal. And rightly so he was a power tripper. Principal who got the job was brilliant.

Hoeever, he got himself appointed as Chair of the BOM of another school in the area. There was a big scandal in that school over falsification of something or other. To cut a long story short, this guy was essentiallly running the other school as a proxy Principal - the real Principal was bullied into doing everything he said!