Teacher who sent inappropriate messages to pupils is removed from register

Ann O'Loughlin

A secondary school teacher who was found guilty of professional misconduct for sending a large volume of inappropriate messages to three male students is to be removed from the register of teachers by order of the High Court.

The Teaching Council sanction, which was described as the most serious sanction for a teacher, was confirmed by the president of the High Court Mr Justice David Barniville on Monday.

A booklet containing 700 pages of messages sent by the teacher over several months to the students, who were 14-years-old, was before the court.

Mr Justice Barniville, at the outset of the hearing, made an order prohibiting anything being published that might identify the school, pupils, or teacher.

Counsel for the Teaching Council, Eoghan O’Sullivan BL, told the court that the teacher had communicated with the students on the school Microsoft Teams platform, and the messages were found to be inappropriate in terms of their content, frequency, and timing.

Counsel said there were “ hundreds and hundreds of messages” which ran to 700 pages and had been sent between September 2022 and May 2023. He said a huge number of messages were sent late at night, at weekends, and even during school holidays.

Counsel said that the focus of the messages were initially in relation to a common interest in sport but “strayed far beyond that as time progressed”.

The teacher at the end of last year was found guilty of three counts of professional misconduct by a panel overseeing a fitness-to-teach inquiry of the Teaching Council.

The panel was satisfied it was disgraceful and dishonourable conduct and it also found that, while messages on the surface related to sport, some messages could be interpreted in a more sinister fashion and were suggestive and capable of being construed by a minor in a sexual manner.

The teacher had claimed that the messages were banter or locker room talk but he acknowledged he should not have done it.

Counsel said that the Teaching Council panel was unimpressed by the reference to locker room talk and there was systemic and continuous communication which was clearly inappropriate.

The messages had come to light when a parent of one of the boys saw one after her son had been using her computer and contacted the school.

Mr Justice Barniville also ordered that the teacher not be eligible to reapply to be put back on the register for another three years.