A security firm has been hired in the latest move in a legal dispute between the live-in former principal of a private Wicklow preparatory school and its board of governors. Two members of Crothers Security arrived at Aravon School in Bray yesterday with two board members who told Mrs Patricia O'Malley (53) they wanted to secure the premises.
The board had two of the school's phone lines disconnected last week as a result of the dispute.
A third line, which was not disconnected, gives a permanently engaged tone. It is understood that locks have been changed on the doors of two offices.
Mrs O'Malley was dismissed from her post as principal last month. She failed to meet a board request to vacate her apartment, which is situated in the main school building, by last Friday.
It is understood that an offer Mrs O'Malley made to a board member through a mediator last Saturday to leave the apartment by September 1st was rejected. This rejection was not communicated to the O'Malleys, according to a family friend.
Mrs O'Malley lives in the school with her husband, Terence (55), and two of their four children. Mr O'Malley, a former principal of the school, was also dismissed last month from his post as a parttime science teacher and is taking a separate action through the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
A family friend said last night that the security firm's arrival was heavy-handed and that the O'Malley family believed it was an eviction attempt.
A board spokesman said it had no intention of evicting the O'Malleys and also denied that hiring a security firm was a heavyhanded tactic.
He said the firm was hired to secure the building, as the O'Malleys were supposed to have vacated it last Friday.
He said: "We didn't ask the O'Malleys to leave today, nor did we go up there to put them out today. They are honourable people and I have absolute respect for them."
If the O'Malleys had not been at the school, he said the security firm would have "upped the security on the premises". This would have included checking doors and windows. "But given the fact that they were there, that wasn't necessary and we reached an agreement," he added.
The board members and security firm employees arrived shortly after 10 a.m. yesterday.
Lettering on the Crothers Security van states it is an emergency repair unit whose services include installation, ram-raids and breakins. The security men were carrying electric screwdrivers and also had nails and hammers, according to a friend of the O'Malleys.
When they arrived, Mrs O'Malley phoned her rector, the Rev Fred Appelbe, who came over to the school. The parties agreed that the O'Malleys would leave the school apartment by September 1st and would not interfere with any aspect of the school's running in the interim.
It was also agreed that the board could, by appointment, enter the family apartment to see what renovation work was needed to prepare it for the school's new principal who was appointed last week.
Concerned parents at the school said yesterday they had been assured that "ample moves were in place for an amicable and conciliatory resolution of the matter".
Mrs O'Malley and her husband Terry have taught at Aravon School for 27 years.
The school's premises is owned by Hogarth Ltd, an Isle of Manregistered company in which it is understood the singer Chris De Burgh has an interest. The building is leased back to the school's board at a nominal rent of £20,000 which was waived until last year. The rent fell due last November and the singer waived it, according to a board member. Mr De Burgh, a past pupil of the school, is its major benefactor and also has two children attending it.
A spokesman for the board said Mr De Burgh had "no hand act or part" in the decision to sack the O'Malleys and did not attend any board meetings at which the decision was made.