Junior Cert student suspended for sourcing cannabis online can return to Dublin school, court rules

A Junior Certificate student suspended from school after his mother expressed concern about him sourcing cannabis online can return to his studies with immediate effect, the High Court ruled.

Mr Justice Max Barrett said the teenage boy's return to the private school in Dublin is, however, subject to conditions.

These include that if his head-teacher has serious concerns about his behaviour on return, the school can apply to reactivate the suspension.

He is also to have no further involvement in any way with illegal drugs and he should not engage "in any gloating about his having been returned to school", the judge said.

The judge also asked that the Child and Family Agency prepare a report about the boy's general welfare and schooling.

The boy had admitted smoking cannabis and having a "stash" of it in off-campus woods behind the school.

He admitted having discussions with fellow pupils about collectively sourcing and/or going to smoke cannabis but strenuously denied bringing it to school or supplying it to other pupils.

The case arose after his mother contacted the school late last year expressing concerns he may be smoking the drug. Later, she said he had admitted sourcing it through Instagram.

A few days later, the school told the parents it was alleged he supplied cannabis to another student. His suspension was ordered in early December last.

The boy's parents subsequently brought a legal challenge against the school after they were dissatisfied with the process under which they appealed his suspension and which was rejected.

They sought an injunction that he be allowed to return. A hearing of their full challenge is due to take place in a few weeks' time.

Granting the parents the injunction, the judge said the boy should now "knuckle down to work and demonstrate to his parents, his school, his teachers, and the High Court, the respect they each deserve by doing the best that he can in his Junior Certificate examinations".

The judge said the court was "taken aback" by his behaviour and by his own admission that he had broken the law. His actions have also been reported to the gardaí.

"He should appreciate – and if there is one thing that can be said about the agonies of the last few months it is that they can only have brought home to him – the seriousness of his misdeeds, and the need to change his ways immediately before he lands himself in greater trouble," he said.

While suspended, he has been doing home study supplemented by limited remote assistance from his school but this could only "be but disruptive of his education" in an exam year.

His overall health appeared to be suffering and when he attended court for the injunction hearing "he looked considerably frightened", the judge said.

Were this a case involving the supply of illegal drugs to others, the court would "unhesitatingly" have refused the injunction.

The court was presented with quite a dilemma as to how to do right by him while not doing wrong to his fellow pupils.

"However, the court does not wish to be unduly harsh: children err; that is the nature of childhood, and when they do a level of understanding falls to be shown to them that would not necessarily be extended to adults".

The judge also expressed concern that this was the second application to come before the court in the last four months arising from a school disciplinary process. He would be troubled if this was evidence of "an increasing trend in this direction".

What to do with a schoolboy who lands himself in trouble should, in the first instance be the preserve of educators and experts in child and adolescent behaviour "not judges trained by law". Disciplinary matters are primarily for schools and appeals/mediation processes of the Department of Education, he said.