A Co Wicklow school principal at the centre of a High Court hearing next Thursday has asked the Department of Education to inquire into the workings of Co Wicklow VEC.
Mr Gearoid O Ciarain, principal of Colaiste Raithin in Bray, who is refusing to attend a disciplinary hearing of the VEC today, confirmed yesterday that he wrote to the Department on Wednesday last "outlining a lot of issues" of concern about the VEC.
Both Thursday's judicial review and today's disciplinary hearing centre on Mr O Ciarain's expulsion of one his pupils for allegedly using and supplying cannabis on a school trip last October. Though the VEC initially sanctioned the expulsion, it later ruled it invalid and ordered Mr O Ciarain to readmit the boy.
He, however, argued that the VEC's move was invalid. The boy's parents obtained an injunction pending a full judicial review of the case and the boy has been back at school since January. The review will be heard on Thursday.
The school's board of management is said to be divided on whether to support Mr O Ciarain.
Meanwhile, he has refused to hand over the names and addresses of pupils' parents to the VEC as, he says, it wishes to write to them to set out its side of the story. Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, Mr O Ciarain said he would not be attending today's disciplinary hearing, where he was to explain his reasons for not handing over the names and addresses, as he has to meet his legal team to prepare for Thursday.
He said he sent a detailed dossier of concerns about the workings of Co Wicklow VEC to the Department and had asked for an investigation. He would not specify his concerns but said there had been "a number of irregularities, especially since the court case in January".
No one was available for comment at the VEC yesterday.
