A parents group has expressed serious concerns about a High Court decision which forces a school principal to readmit a boy. The boy had smoked cannabis and supplied it to other pupils during a school trip last year.
The High Court found that the principal of Colβiste Rβith∅n in Bray, Co Wicklow, Mr Gear≤id ╙ Ciarβin, had no legal authority to indefinitely suspend David McKenna, a Leaving Cert student who admitted smoking cannabis on the trip, along with four other boys.
Mr Justice ╙ Caoimh said it was the local VEC which decided whether a pupil was kept out of school on a long-term basis. He said the VEC had instructed the principal to readmit the pupil last November.
He said while it appeared that David had provided cannabis to other pupils in the school, the VEC did not support expelling the boy and wanted his reinstatement. He said the principal was obliged to honour this because of the 1930 VEC Act.
The chairwoman of the National Parent's Council (post-primary), Ms Marie Danaswamy, said parents depended on school principals to defend other pupils and take actions they thought were necessary. She said it was not clear how this could be done in the light of the decision.
"I am surprised the VEC did not support the school principal. The principal, remember, is the person on the ground who knows the school the best," she said.
Mr ╙ Ciarβin told The Irish Times last night that he was disappointed at the decision, which he said had implications for hundreds of schools.
"What are the rights of the majority of pupils in a school, as against the minority? Maybe the balance is tilted wrongly," he said. His counsel told the High Court during the case that Mr McKenna was a "hazard" and a danger to other pupils.
Mr ╙ Ciarβin has to pay the McKenna costs and those of the VEC. These are understood to be more than £100,000.