A SECONDARY SCHOOL teacher who was found guilty of professional misconduct for sending a large volume of inappropriate messages to three male students is to be removed from the register of teachers.

A panel overseeing a fitness-to-teach inquiry of the Teaching Council has also ruled that the teacher, who is in his mid-20s, cannot re-apply to register as a teacher for a period of three years.

An inquiry held last month found three allegations of professional misconduct against the teacher proven beyond reasonable doubt in relation to his interactions on the school’s Microsoft Teams platform with students who were on a GAA team he coached in their school.

A three-person inquiry panel ruled that the messages which were sent to the students were inappropriate in terms of their content, frequency and timing.

It also concluded that the teacher had contravened the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers over his online contact with the boys who were 2nd Year students aged 14-15 years.

The messages, many of which were sent late at night, occurred between September 2022 and May 2023 while the teacher was in a temporary role at a large post-primary school.

Neither the teacher nor the school can be identified as a result of a direction by the chairperson of the inquiry, Noel Cronin.

The teacher, who was aged 24 at the time, admitted to the inquiry that he had been “very naïve and immature” in sending messages to the three students but stressed that he was “not soliciting anything or grooming anyone.”

The inquiry heard that the teacher texted one student: “I thought you were 100 percent gay” and described him as a “golden boy” and “such a bender.”

He asked another student in a message: “Are you sexy” and claimed the third student looked “homosexual” in a photo of the boy going for a high ball during a game.

Announcing the sanction recommended by the panel at a hearing today, Mr Cronin said it “serves to properly acknowledge and reflect the gravity of the conduct and the egregious breach of trust and abuse of power underpinning the decision it has made in this inquiry.”

Notwithstanding any mitigating factors, Mr Cronin said the panel was satisfied that “anything other than this sanction would amount to a failure to uphold professional standards and public confidence in the profession and the regulatory process.”

The formal sanction on the teacher cannot take effect until it is formally ratified by the High Court.

In a submission on the possible sanction, the teacher’s solicitor, Eoin McGlinchey, asked the panel to consider that his client had not worked since May 2023 and was unlikely to work again before next summer or in his local area.

Mr McGlinchey said the teacher had already been effectively suspended for the past 18 months.

He told the panel that the inquiry had a huge impact on the teacher’s life but he hoped to be able to return to teaching as he struggled to see himself doing anything else.

The inquiry heard that GAA coaching had been a passion for the teacher since a young age and it, together with teaching, had given him confidence and self-belief.

In sending messages to the students, Mr McGlinchey said the teacher had been trying to relive his own teenage years which he had found very lonely.

The solicitor said the teacher recognised that the things he had said in the messages without context were “truly awful” and fully realised now how inappropriate they were.

He pointed out that the teacher had not attended part of the inquiry in November because he struggled to hear the messages he had sent being read out.

However, he asked the panel to understand that the messages were sent to three students whom he had already known for years from outside school through his role in coaching.

Mr McGlinchey said it explained why he had “relaxed his guard.”

The solicitor stressed that there was no evidence of any harm or intent to cause harm to any of the students and it was not a case of a teacher who was trying to entice a student into some “unacceptable or sinister activity.”

The inquiry heard that the teacher had been attending counselling to address his immaturity, neediness to be around people and insecurities as a teenager.

Mr McGlinchey said the teacher had made significant efforts to correct his behaviour and now understood “why he did what he did” and recognised why lines were blurred between his role as a teacher and GAA coach.

He argued that the teacher’s action had also demonstrated “a certain level of naivety.”

The inquiry heard a counsellor, who had seen the teacher for 22 counselling sessions, had assessed him as being at the lowest possible risk of repeating inappropriate activity.

The solicitor said it was indicative of the teacher that his main concern was for the students and their caregivers.

Mr McGlinchey said the teacher has also not coached GAA games for 18 months as he had voluntarily stepped down from all coaching roles even before he had been asked to do so by Tusla.

He noted that the teacher had cooperated fully with gardaí and Tusla.

He also observed that in sending the messages the teacher had acted “stupidly, naively, inappropriately, wrongly and ultimately innocently.”

However, solicitor for the Teaching Council, James Roche said the sanction should reflect how serious the misconduct was viewed.

Mr Roche said he believed the sanction should be “at the higher end of the scale” to reflect the gravity of the teacher’s behaviour.

He noted the teacher had deleted some messages as he knew their content was inappropriate and which were capable of being interpreted “in a sinister fashion.”

Mr Roche reminded the inquiry panel that many of the messages were highly suggestive and sexual in manner which could not be justified even though the teacher had tried to explain them as “locker room talk.”

He also suggested the panel should take into account the sheer volume of messages which were “not isolated or individual interactions.”

The inquiry heard that evidence containing the messages sent to the three students ran to some 2,000 pages.

Mr Roche said the teacher had also used a school platform for sending the messages which might be seen as the school condoning or being tacitly complicit in what had happened.