Boy must sit exams alone over hair dye

LIMERICK leaving cert student Patrick Kirby’s new pink streak hair style cut a dash. But it broke school rules and as a result he is sitting his exam in isolation at Ard Scoil Mhuire in Bruff.

Patrick, 17, from Bruff said that one girl has a red fringe and another girl has purple down the side of her hair. However, when he turned up with his streak of pink from forehead to neck, he was deemed to have broken the school rule on hair.

When he emerged from the first exam last Wednesday, he said the school principal requested him to alter his new hairdo to conform with school rules.

Patrick said: “He said if I didn’t then I couldn’t sit the exam.”

Patrick’s mother, Veronica said her son wasn’t on drugs, “or anything like”. She added: “He has colour in his hair and that’s about it.”

Patrick is now doing his exam on his own with a supervisor. But the principal had to act as supervisor last Friday.

“It was kind of awkward,” he said.

A spokesperson for Ard Scoil Mhuire said the issue was an internal matter and had been dealt with within the school code of conduct.