This is appalling!
Female students attending school in Kerry have claimed that they were inappropriately touched by a male student.
Parents of the students are furious as they say the school have not done enough to deal with the issue.
Three complaints were made referring to inappropriate touching of the female pupils by a male pupil at the school.
The parents have said that the first incident happened in June 2016, another then in June 2017 involving two girls, with the most recent reported touching happening only three months ago in May.
The girls’ families raised their concerns with the school and the Bishop of Kerry but have now taken the issue to Tusla.
The parents also claim that the school told them nothing of the first groping incident and they only found out when their daughter revealed it to them.
In the first reported incident, it is alleged that a male child touched the backside of a girl.
The second reported incident involved two female students and occurred during break-time. In this case, the girls alleged that they were touched in their private parts by the same male pupil.
When the matter was not resolved by September last year the Department of Education became involved.
One of the girls involved has not returned to the school and her family have since removed their other children from the school as well.
Since then a third incident occurred with another student whose family has now been in contact with Tusla.
According to Independent.ie the family say that their daughter was groped in class. This family have now also removed their children from the school.
The school and the Bishop of Kerry insist that they are doing their best and are following the correct procedures, but for the families involved it is not enough.
As the mother of a daughter, I find it very frustrating that these girls are having their education interrupted by something that is not their fault.
All children should be able to attend school without fear and this matter is very concerning.
How this school deal with this issue could cause a chain reaction with other schools on their approach with sexual harassment claims.
The incidents are currently still being investigated by both the school board and Tusla.
