A teacher has brought High Court proceedings seeking to prevent evidence obtained by her former partner from being adduced at an inquiry into her fitness to teach.
The teacher, who cannot be identified due to court orders, says the evidence deemed admissible by a Teaching Council disciplinary committee panel was unlawfully garnered from her Snapchat social media account without her permission or consent.
The woman is the subject of an ongoing inquiry into her fitness to practise after allegations were raised, including about alleged social media communications between her and one of her former students, according to her legal papers.
The contact is alleged to have occurred prior to and since the student completed his leaving certificate exams.
The allegations against her led to her leaving her employment at a particular school, but she says she was never the subject of an application from the Teaching Council for an order suspending her registration on grounds that it is in the public interest.
She is now working at another school, which is not aware of the allegations, she says.
The teacher denies the allegations against her.
She says she has suffered “significant stress” in dealing with the inquiry which has negatively affected her well-being.
The screenshot evidence is alleged to have been procured unlawfully by the woman’s former partner. She claims this was a breach of her rights under the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.
The director had no legal basis for receiving the material and it was irrational and/or unreasonable for the committee panel to admit it into evidence, she alleges. If, in the alternative, the panel had the discretion to admit the evidence, it exercised its discretion in an unlawful manner, the teacher claims
The woman’s counsel, Eileen Barrington SC, said the panel applied the wrong legal test in allowing the evidence to be admitted. Alternatively, it applied the right test in an incorrect way, the court heard.
Mr Justice Charles Meenan made an order on Monday permitting the teacher to pursue her challenge.
She is asking the court to quash the decision, made in June of this year, to permit the use of the evidence at the fitness to practice inquiry, which is being held under part 5 of the Teaching Council Act, 2001.
She also asks for an injunction restraining the use of the evidence for any purpose, including during the inquiry, which she has asked the court to pause while this matter is under judicial review. Alternatively, she wants the question of admissibility to be reconsidered by the panel.
Her case is against the panel of the disciplinary committee of the Teaching Council and the director of the Teaching
Council.
