Special needs assistant awarded €255k over school harassment

Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill described the “severe” and “unmerited” treatment of Una Ruffley by the board of management of St Anne’s National School in the Curragh, Co Kildare, as persistent, inappropriate behaviour which wholly undermined her dignity at work.
He said principal Pauline Dempsey’s account of the complaint against Ms Ruffley to a board meeting was “almost certainly untrue, highly biased, coloured, and grossly and unfairly damnified” Ms Ruffley, who had worked in the school for 14 years.