Gorey Gaelscoil debacle - astonishing legal smackdown

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Nah.

Out of the blue this guy is violent towards a young child is the reach and his outing just so happened to coincide with a new BOM?

Doesn't pass the smell test.

It gets worse not alone is the chair a registered teacher but it seems she is an education professor who trains teachers who has sat on investigation boards for the Teaching Council. You couldn’t make this **** up it’s mind boggling.

No. I think it's absolutely abhorrent, with far more to this story then we know. I also think the High Court Judge minimising it to the point it was nothing is quite startling.

It's pretty obvious the BOM procrastinated to the point of farce on purpose because they didn't want this individual back in the school.

Fair play to them.

I was a former pupil back in 2002 when the Gaelscoil in Gorey first started. I'm glad some people see how inappropriate the incident with 'Pupil A' was and question whether it's a one off.

Unfortunately you're correct. If they wanted him gone, they should have done their due diligence.

Nevertheless, I hope you can appreciate how grossly inappropriate the incident with 'Pupil A' was and question what would happen in situation where parents dont become involved and if these issues existed before. In many cases, people only become apologetic when they're caught out.