Two female secondary teachers have been awarded damages in a case involving alleged sexual harassment by pupils in a Co Wicklow school.
In what it thought to be one of the first cases of its kind, an equality officer has awarded £12,000 to one teacher and £7,000 to another.
The teachers claimed the manner in which the school authorities dealt with their complaints of sexual harassment by pupils constituted victimisation and discrimination.
Last night, one of the teachers, who was awarded £12,000, said she felt vindicated by the ruling. The harassment had continued for more than four years. "In all the circumstances, after all the pain I have suffered, my main feeling is one of relief," she told The Irish Times.
The teacher in question no longer works at the school which is a boys' secondary school run by a religious order. The school was reprimanded - not for the manner in which it dealt with the allegations of sexual harassment - but for other breaches of equality legislation.
In particular, the officer said the school's action in publicising the teachers' legal case breached equality legislation. The equality officer found that this action was "designed to expose and embarrass the claimants in the eyes of their colleagues".
It also breached equality legislation by helping to identify the teachers in question, he found.
In the course of his ruling, the equality officer recognised that schools were liable for the action of pupils where they sexually harass teachers. He also said the teachers had suffered considerable stress as a result of the way the matter had been dealt with by the school authorities.
The legal action claiming discrimination and victimisation was taken by the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) on behalf of the teachers.