A former school principal jailed for the theft of €204,000 from his school has been removed from the teaching register following a fitness-to-teach inquiry.
Fionbar Ó Baoill (41), of Ballybofey, Co Donegal was the former principal of St Patrick’s National School, Kilnaleck, Co Cavan.
The Irish Independent is reporting today that Mr Ó Baoill, also known as Finbar Boyle, has been struck from the register and banned from teaching for a minimum period of 15 years following the Teaching Council’s disciplinary inquiry.
Mr Ó Baoill had pleaded guilty to five counts of theft and two counts of forgery while principal at St Patrick’s, a 70-student primary school in Kilnaleck, Co Cavan between 2007 and 2012.
He was initially handed a suspended two-year sentence, on the condition he repaid €25,000 in March 2018.
However, in May 2019, on foot of an appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), he was sentenced to 15 months and taken into custody.
The disciplinary panel, chaired by Paul Moroney, found that Mr Ó Baoill was guilty of “prolonged, elaborate and calculated dishonesty for the purpose of enriching himself to the inevitable detriment of the school and its children”.
The panel found Mr Ó Baoill’s actions were “a total betrayal” of the core ethical values of trust and integrity that underpin the standards of teaching.
The panel found the aggravating factors that led to their decision were; the seriousness of the offences and the large sums of money stolen, misapplied and misappropriated; the premeditated nature of the crimes; the length of time the pattern of behaviour continued for; the significant adverse effect Mr Ó Baoill’s actions had on both the physical and educational welfare of the children in the school.
Chairman of the panel Paul Moroney said all of Mr Ó Baoill’s offending “breached the trust of the pupils, colleagues, parents, school management and the public”.
See Independent’s story here: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/former-principal-jailed-over-204000-theft-from-his-school-removed-from-teaching-register-40550776.html
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