A man convicted of raping and sexually assaulting a family member has been removed from the teaching register.
The man, who is serving an 8½ jail sentence, may apply after 30 years to the Teaching Council to be restored to the register, a fitness-to-teach committee ruled on Friday.
However, committee chairman Fergal McCarthy said it could not be predicted when, if ever, it would be appropriate to restore him.
The teacher was convicted on three counts of rape and four counts of sexual assault by a Central Criminal Court jury.
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He appealed his conviction and sentence, but was unsuccessful at the Court of Appeal.
On Friday, Teaching Council‘s committee considered the nature of the alleged offences the man was convicted of as the most relevant factor.
McCarthy said that “on any analysis” the offences of rape and sexual assault were “at the most serious end of the spectrum”. He said the teacher was young at the time but this did not excuse his conduct.
The teacher was in his mid-to-late teens at the time of his offending and the victim was in their preteen and early teenage years. The inquiry heard the offences occurred primarily in the family home more than 20 years ago.
McCarthy said the victim was a child, meaning an “abuse of a position of power and trust” was involved. He said removal of the teacher from the register for a lengthy period was a proportionate sanction.
He said the committee felt there was only one mitigating factor present, namely the lapse of time since the alleged offending occurred, but this was of a “very minor impact” when weighed against the conduct.
McCarthy said the teacher did not accept the verdict of the court and had not shown any insight into the conduct that brought his fitness to teach into question.
A further aggravating factor identified by the committee was the teacher’s conduct being “deliberate and intended”. Such behaviour was “incompatible with the profession of teaching”, it found.
McCarthy said there was a need to protect the public from a similar risk of harm in the future and he said the sanction against the teacher sent an appropriate message to the public that teaching was a well-regulated profession.
The committee reconvened on Friday to hear submissions as to the sanction and advice from legal assessor and senior barrister Paul McGarry.
Eoghan O’Sullivan, for the director of the Teaching Council, said the teacher should be removed from the register and not be eligible to apply for registration for a period of years.
He said the most important attribute for a teacher to have was “that they can be trusted to interact appropriately with and not to cause harm to children” and “not to abuse the position of trust they are placed in when dealing with children in their care”.
The teacher, who is serving a prison sentence, attended the hearing remotely and represented himself.
Following a decision at a preliminary hearing, the committee ordered extensive reporting restrictions including that all parties and geographical locations be anonymised.
It was also directed that the teacher’s relationship with the victim, the period when the offending occurred and the dates of trial, sentence hearing and appeal not be reported.
