A SECONDARY school teacher has claimed before the High Court his career is at an end due to being placed on administrative leave more than three years ago arising from what he claims are untrue allegations by a pupil of sex abuse.
The teacher was the subject of a complaint to the HSE in late 2001 but was not made aware of the allegation until July 2003, Coleman Fitzgerald SC said yesterday.
Gardaí were earlier made aware of the claim but in February 2002 concluded there was “nothing” in it, counsel said. The teacher secured the complainant’s identity in 2005, some four years after the initial complaint was made.
The teacher, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has brought an action against both the HSE and the school’s board of management over the complaints and the school’s decision to place him on administrative leave.
He is seeking several orders, including orders quashing the conclusion in the HSE’s social work report that he poses a potential serious risk to children in the school; the HSE’s recommendation that he be absented from the school; and the HSE’s communication to the school of the allegation he abused a pupil (who has since left the school).
He is also seeking orders preventing the HSE from carrying out further investigations of the claims and quashing the decision to place him on administrative leave.
The defendants have denied the teacher’s rights were breached.
Opening the case before Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill, Mr Fitzgerald said a former pupil had complained of sex abuse, alleged to have occurred on three occasions at the teacher’s home between 2000 and early 2001. The teacher strongly denied these claims.
His client had had concerns, as the complainant’s mother worked for the HSE as a social worker, that she may have had access to the teacher’s files, counsel said. Those contained an accusation from the teacher’s estranged wife, which an investigation found to be unsubstantiated and unfounded, that he had abused her daughter.
Due to the failure to provide basic details about the complaint, the teacher refused to meet with the HSE which later informed the school about claims which, it said, had been validated, counsel said.
This was not so, as the validation was confined to a check the pupil’s counsellor was qualified to assess the credibility of child sex abuse claims, counsel said. That fell short of minimum standards required. The pupil’s school records had not been checked and, if they had, would have cast serious doubts about the allegations.The case continues.