By Eoin Marsh
The High Court has quashed the expulsion of former De La Salle College Wicklow student Timothy O’Donovan after finding that the school failed to comply with statutory safeguards designed to protect a pupil’s continuing education.
O’Donovan was expelled following an incident during a charity football match on November 28th, 2006. After saving the final penalty, he ran behind a teacher, identified only as BG, and pulled the teacher’s shorts down several inches, exposing part of his backside.
O’Donovan said he immediately regretted the incident and apologised. The school disputed aspects of that account and treated the conduct as very serious. The board of management decided on December 18th, 2006 that he should be permanently excluded. A statutory appeal later upheld that decision.
Mr Justice Hedigan rejected O’Donovan’s argument that the appeal decision was irrational. Although the appeals committee had referred to sexual harassment, the judge said the incident did not amount to sexual harassment and was instead “highly inappropriate horseplay”. He nevertheless found that other considerations gave the committee a reasonable basis for its decision.
The decisive issue was separate. The school accepted that it had not complied with requirements under the Education (Welfare) Act 2000 to notify and engage the educational welfare officer before expulsion.
The judge held that this was not a technical or inconsequential breach. O’Donovan was out of school for several weeks during his Leaving Certificate year. His mother eventually secured a place for him at Abbey Community College, where he had to change one of his subjects because of curriculum differences.
The court said the statutory scheme was intended to prevent exactly that type of disruption by giving an educational welfare officer time to help secure continued education.
The High Court declared that the expulsion decisions breached O’Donovan’s statutory rights and quashed them. It refused to order the school or appeal committee to reconsider the matter, finding there was nothing useful to be gained from sending it back.