Claims Ireland

Retired Teacher wins €88,000 in Bullying case

25-Mar-2011

A retired Dublin teacher who was subjected to savage and relentless bullying by a school principal has been awarded €88,000 in damages.

The award was given by the High Court.

55-year-old Bridget Sweeney from Donnybrook worked as a resource and home-schooling teacher at Ballinteer Community School in Dublin.

She complained of her treatment in 2006 and 2007.

The court heard at one point former headmaster Dr. Austen Corcoran hired a private investigator to tail her.

In this action Bridget Sweeney claimed her work was sabotaged by the former headmaster.

In his ruling Mr. Justice Daniel Herbert found this covert surveillance to be a most serious harassment and he said being followed by two men in a car must have been truly terrifying to a woman on her own.

She complained to the board of management at the school but her case was rejected.

Today however the High Court concluded Dr. Corcoran had behaved like a tyrant and that Bridget Sweeney had been subjected to deliberate and continuous bullying that had caused severe depression and flashbacks of people following her