Courts / Ireland / Report

School wins challenge to direction that it must enrol child in "heavily oversubscribed" class

Summary

In a High Court case, a primary school successfully challenged a Department of Education direction that it must enrol a child into its special speech and language class. Mr Justice Paul Coffey quashed the recommendation of a three‑person Appeals Committee that had advised the Secretary General to enrol the boy, citing the school's lack of a clear admission policy for oversubscribed places. The court noted that the school had 17 applications for only three spots and had already allocated places to three students. The judge found the committee's recommendation unfair to other applicants and remitted the matter to a new committee for further consideration. The school's board of management had brought the judicial review, arguing the decision was irrational and breached fair procedures. The case remains at the stage of a new committee hearing the remitted matter.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: School wins challenge to direction that it must enrol child in "heavily oversubscribed" class. Procedural stage: hearing_or_decision

When:

• 2017-11-14 Publication

Why: The recommendation was also unsatisfactory because the it was unclear if the allocation of a place was to be at the expense of one of the three successful applicants or none. CNI source report

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Stage Hearing Or Decision

Read the original CNI report