A FORMER national school principal who was fired after relations between her and the board of management broke down has been awarded €55,000 compensation by an Employment Appeals Tribunal.
The tribunal found that Gertie McNerney of Edenmore, Ballinamuck, Co Longford, was unfairly dismissed by the board of St Patrick’s National School, Dromard, Moyne, Co Longford.
Ms McNerney had been a teacher at the school since 1965, becoming principal in 1996. She was dismissed from the four-teacher, 83-pupil school by the eight-member board in August 2006.
During four days of hearings, the tribunal heard relations between Ms McNerney and the board had soured over a period of years as allegations of bullying had been made by three teachers and two parents had sent letters of complaint.
In its determination yesterday, the tribunal said it was clear from the minutes of a meeting of the board in October 2003 that “relations between the board and, in particular, the chairman of the board and the principal had broken down”.
The tribunal said the board’s finding of misconduct “was disproportionate and probably arrived at in very difficult circumstances”.
