The High Court quashed the Minister for Education and Skills’ decision to dismiss Catherine McSorley as principal of Kilkenny City Vocational School, finding that the decision was manifestly disproportionate. The court said it would hear counsel on the form of the order.
In a judicial review judgment delivered on 26 April 2012, Mr Justice Hedigan considered a ministerial decision made in July 2011 that McSorley was unfit to hold office. She had been principal since 1999. The Minister’s decision followed an inquiry into her performance under section 105 of the Vocational Education Act 1930.
The inquiry’s original terms of reference listed six areas concerning her work, including school administration, staff relations, roll books and a school trip. The inquiry officer, Torlach O’Connor, later investigated eight additional matters concerning possible financial improprieties. McSorley argued that he had no authority to expand the inquiry and challenged the Minister’s reliance on its findings. The respondents argued that the inquiry could consider matters relevant to her performance that emerged during the investigation.
The court rejected the challenge to the expanded inquiry. It held that the statutory inquiry could cover relevant matters beyond those initially listed in the terms of reference, which provided its initial focus but did not restrict its scope. It therefore treated the respondents’ objections based on acquiescence in, and delay challenging, that expansion as moot. The court said McSorley had moved promptly after receiving the Minister’s dismissal decision in August 2011.
The judgment noted that the inquiry officer had upheld three complaints concerning events from 2001 to 2003, but had not recommended McSorley’s removal. The court focused on the effect of the Minister’s decision in light of the time elapsed and the evidence before it about her work in the intervening years. It referred to the inquiry officer’s description of her as “a very considerable force for good in the school” and noted his account of initiatives for disadvantaged pupils.
The court concluded that removing McSorley in 2011 over complaints that were eight to ten years old, given her apparently very satisfactory performance since, was manifestly disproportionate and required judicial intervention. It ordered that the Minister’s dismissal decision be quashed. The judgment did not set out the final form of the order; it said counsel would be heard on that question. The source does not record a separate final ruling on the other relief sought.