Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Virgin on the ridiculous
Caretaker injured in scuffle as sir removes statue from school
THE attempted removal of a Virgin Mary statue at a school sparked a scuffle between a teacher and a caretaker.
The row erupted when the humanist computers and maths teacher removed the icon.
The janitor, who is in his 60s, suffered a cut to his neck and bruising to his hand in the incident in May 2015.
Irish police were told and a probe by the school ensued where the teacher at a Central Technical Institute in Ireland was given a verbal warning.
A Workplace Relations Commis- sion ruling in Dublin found he wasn’t discriminated against on the grounds of religion.
Adjudication Officer Enda Murphy said the incident “was very unsavoury and both parties engaged in conduct which was unprofessional and totally unacceptable in the workplace”.
He also noted the teacher is the only person to complain about the altar in 30 years. The teacher – employed at the school since 1994 – told the hearing the statue provoked deep unease and anxiety in him because of his deeply held beliefs.
He said the presence of the May altar “is unpalatable and offensive to him personally on the basis of his belief that the statue of the Virgin Mary is one associated with the repression of normal sexuality”.
The teacher said the manner in which he was accosted by the care taker while he tried to remove the statue amounted to harassment.
He claimed the incident resulted in him suffering physical harm and also caused him to suffer very considerable stress and anxiety.
Throwing out the claim for discrimination, harassment and victimisation, Mr Murphy said: “I find the presence of the May altar in the complainant’s workplace and his subsequent attempt to remove the religious statue did not constitute a prohibition or disadvantage in terms of the manifestation or assertion of his beliefs.”