Four school principals prosecuted for inflating student numbers

Thirteen principals found to have inflated student numbers in past decade  File picture: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Thirteen school principals were found to have inflated the number of students that were enrolled at their school over the past decade.

The cases are generally reported to An Garda Síochána as higher head counts can mean enhanced funding from the Department of Education and can in some cases mean increased salaries for principals because of a larger student cohort.

Four of the principals involved, all from primary schools, have been prosecuted, while three investigations remain ongoing, according to the latest figures.

Twelve of the cases related to primary schools and one involved a post-primary school.

Of the 13 cases, 10 were referred to gardaí but four of those resulted in no prosecution against the principal involved.

There were also two cases where the gardaí were not informed on foot of a department investigation and no further action took place.

Fine Gael TD Michael Ring, who obtained the information, said: “This was brought to my attention and I put in the question to the minister for education.

“I was surprised to see the extent of it and hope the department is keeping a close eye on it to ensure enforcement is actively taking place.” 

Cases of bogus enrolment are supposed to be reported immediately to the department by any member of staff or other person who becomes aware of what is going on.

The Department of Education said its standard practice was to carry out an investigation and refer it onwards to the gardaí “when appropriate”.

It said: “Where a case is reported to An Garda Síochána, it is a matter for [it] to evaluate and progress as appropriate.

“In a very small number of circumstances, enrolment overstatements have occurred due to genuine error.” 

The department said any follow-up disciplinary action against principals was the responsibility of the individual board of management of the school.

“Department circulars make it clear that deliberate overstatement of enrolment figures will be reported to An Garda Síochána as a matter of policy,” they said.

“There are 13 schools that have inflated pupil enrolment figures in the last 10 years. Some of these are ‘live cases’, where either the department or [An Garda] have not concluded their investigations.”