A Dublin school principal is to challenge a High Court decision which appeared to open the way for publication of school inspectors' reports in The Irish Times.
Mr Barney Sheedy, principal of Scoil Choilm, Crumlin, Dublin, has appealed the decision on a point of law to the Supreme Court. The case is expected to be heard before the end of this year.
In the High Court, Mr Sheedy failed in his attempt to overturn a decision of the Information Commissioner (IC) to release certain school inspection reports. These reports, prepared by the Department of Education inspectorate, provide an overview of how a school is performing.
The reports are circulated to schools but have never been published. Two years ago, the Department of Education - without naming any schools - published a report based on 50 such reports.
In his High Court case, Mr Sheedy claimed the release of such reports could lead to the compilation of "league tables" of schools and would have a "chilling" impact on teachers' interaction with school inspectors.
But the High Court found that there was no evidence to suggest that publication could lead to the compilation of league tables. This interpretation will now be challenged in the Supreme Court.
Mr Justice Gilligan said it was clear that the intention of the FOI Act was to enable members of the public to obtain access "to the greatest extent possible consistent with the public interest and the right to privacy" to information in the possession of public bodies.
To be exempt from disclosure, as provided for under Section 53 of the FOI Act, the relevant information would have to enable the compilation of information about the comparative performance of schools in respect of the academic achievement of students enrolled, the judge said.
The case arose after The Irish Times applied for access to reports of inspections of a number of Dublin primary schools.
