Teacher found guilty of professional misconduct for kissing and hugging student

A teacher in a special school who kissed a female student on the lips after hugging her has been found guilty of professional misconduct by a fitness-to-teach committee. Fergal McCarthy, chairperson of the committee, said the committee had found on Wednesday that five factual allegations against the teacher had been proven. These included that on May 13th, 2025, the teacher hugged the student (19), put his arms around her waist and lifted her.It was claimed that on May 16th, 2025, the teacher hugged the student, kissed her on the cheek and on the lips and stroked her on the cheek. READ MOREIt was also alleged that the teacher, in the context of this inappropriate physical contact, said to the student “don’t tell anyone” or words to that effect. The committee heard that between Saturday May 17th and Monday May 19th, 2025, the teacher messaged the student on Instagram, which the committee considered to be inappropriate, and sent her inappropriate messages. It was also alleged that the teacher, by his alleged conduct, attempted to develop or pursue an inappropriate relationship with the student. The student gave evidence on Wednesday supporting these allegations.McCarthy said the teacher told the student in his Instagram messages not to tell anyone. He referenced some messages from the teacher that included “Well it looks like you will have to miss me a little bit longer” and “it’s not like you can say ‘no’ to me”. McCarthy said the deputy principal told the inquiry that all teachers in the school were aware of the student’s needs and that the deputy principal related details regarding the school’s investigation into what happened.McCarthy said the committee accepted all of the evidence of the witnesses, which also included testimony from the student’s mother, who related how she became aware of the nature of the alleged interactions between her daughter and the teacher. The committee heard that the teacher claimed it was the student who initiated the physical interactions on May 13th and May 16th, 2025. The committee further heard that he blocked the student on Instagram on Monday May 19th after sending her a final message that day. McCarthy said it did not matter who initiated the alleged physical interactions and the communications on Instagram. There was “some innuendo” in the teacher’s text messages and the special education context was important, he said.He said the manner in which the teacher behaved “undermined the trust and confidence” parents should have in teachers and that his behaviour fell well below the standards expected of teachers. McCarthy said the teacher was also guilty of breaching provisions of the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers. The student, who is now in further education, told Kate Egan, barrister for the Director of the Teaching Council, that she had regularly done jobs or messages for teachers around the school.The student described how the interactions between her and the teacher developed from saying “hi” and “just waving” when her schoolbus would pull up outside the school to “high fiving” when others were around. “If no teacher was around, we would interlock our hands for just a few seconds,” she added. She said this happened once or twice. She told Egan she liked the teacher, who did not attend the inquiry and was not legally represented, that she found him friendly and that she started to have feelings for him.“I was hiding them because I knew it was wrong to have feelings for a teacher and because he was older than me. I kept it to myself,” she said. On the day of the inappropriate physical contact on May 13th, 2025, the student said it was PE day and she was helping to put equipment away in the PE cupboard.She told the committee that the PE cupboard was located to the side of the PE hall in the school and that the teacher initiated the hugging. The committee previously ruled that the identity of the student and of any witnesses and the name and location of the school be anonymised. The committee will reconvene at a future date to hear submissions on the sanction facing the teacher.