Man arrested after schools fail to receive history packs

GARDAÍ have arrested a man as part of nationwide operation after nearly 120 primary school principals complained they hadn’t received history-learning aids for which they had paid.

The schools each paid a man in his 40s from north Cork for a history pack which contained such items as replicas of the Ardagh Chalice, Tara Brooch and the Sam Maguire Cup — all of which had been made in China.

According to gardaí, the man began visiting schools offering the packs for sale back in 2009.

The investigation was sparked the following year when some schools still hadn’t received their packs, which cost €250 each.

In total, 390 schools made orders of the replicas which were described as particularly good.

However, many of them never received the promised packs, despite paying for them in advance.

To date gardaí have received 118 complaints from primary school principals from as far apart as Sligo, Dublin, Meath, Wexford and Cork.

The display box contained 17 replica artefacts which were used by schools for history lessons.

The man, who employed two sales representatives, was arrested by gardaí after he came voluntarily to Mallow Garda Station last Monday.

He was detained for questioning under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

After being questioned by detectives for nearly 12 hours, he was released without charge and a file is now being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Gardaí believe there may be other primary schools which still haven’t made a formal complaint.

Three detectives have been working on the case since early last year and despite the arrest they are continuing with their investigations.

Superintendent Pat McCarthy, who led the Garda investigation, said it had been painstaking work.

“In total nearly €30,000 is owed to these schools and in the present economic climate they can’t afford such a loss.”

Sean Cottrell, director of the Irish Primary Principals’ Network, welcomed news that gardaí were sending a file to the DPP.

“With shrinking capitation grants and the rising costs of utility bills every euro counts, especially for small schools,” he said.

Mr Cottrell added he became aware of the artefacts case six months ago and his network had tried to alert as many of the country’s 3,300 primary schools as possible.