The Sisters of Mercy religious order and the Department of Education are believed to be facing a shared bill of some €18,000, plus their own legal costs, following a decision to reinstate the board of management of a girls' school in Co Galway.
The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) had been due to launch a High Court challenge against the decision of the order to replace the school board of Seamount College in Kinvara, Co Galway, with a single manager. The religious order are the trustees of the school and had wanted to introduce a single manager as part of their plans to close the school by 2012.
The ASTI had argued that the decision contravened the Education Act. The union is understood to have been confident that this position would have been upheld.
However, a tripartite agreement between the ASTI, the religious order and Minister for Education Mary Hanafin now means that parent representatives as well as two ASTI members will continue to have a say in how the school operates.
Ms Hanafin was a party to the action because she approved the appointment of a single manager to the school. ASTI general secretary John White said every school should have a board of management.