A male secondary schoolteacher convicted of writing two poison pen letters alleging sexual misconduct by a male colleague has been censured by a fitness-to-practise committee.The committee further decided that the teacher will be retained on the register subject to conditions.These include that he attend a consultant psychiatrist and counsellor for one year, provide evidence of treatment received from them and provide written evidence of adherence by him to treatment and treatment advice from them. He must also provide evidence of completion of a restorative practice course. Such a course typically teaches people how to build, maintain, and repair interpersonal relationships within workplaces. He must also notify any employer of these conditions until they are complied with, committee chairwoman Clodagh O’Hara said. The teacher, in his 40s, was convicted in the District Court of two offences, triable on indictment, regarding two grossly offensive letters he posted, approximately two months apart. One was sent to a Garda station close to the secondary school where he worked and the other to the school’s principal. He received a two-month sentence suspended for two years and 40 hours of community service respectively, for the offences.At the direction of the committee there were extensive reporting restrictions imposed regarding the teacher’s identity , the school, its location and any witness in the case. In the handwritten letters, purportedly from students at the all-girls secondary school, the teacher alleged his colleague, a PE teacher, was looking at pictures of naked girls on his phone while in class, that he was taking photos of students during class and that he was calling them names. The principal brought the letters to the PE teacher’s attention with the PE teacher denying the allegations outright. The inquiry heard the teacher claimed that at the time he sent the letters he was having a very challenging time in school and that there were a number of issues in his personal life he was also dealing with. The inquiry also heard the basis for the allegations in the letters were remarks that the teacher claimed he heard students making, on two occasions, regarding his colleague. Brian Gageby, barrister for the Director of the Teaching Council told the panel that the teacher and his solicitor subsequently attended a local Garda station voluntarily. Gageby also went into details of the letter sent to the gardaí. The purported students said they were “very worried” that their PE teacher was looking at images on his phone and that they thought that he had taken photos of students.The letter also said he had called them “fat and useless”, that he hated the class and that they were afraid to tell the principal. The letter ended, “Please help us. Students in the school.” In his statement of complaint to An Garda Síochana, the PE teacher said he was “shocked and upset” by the letters, that he had an unblemished record of over ten years teaching and that he was heavily involved in the coaching of sports teams. He said being a male teacher in an all girls school, it was “the worst thing”he could have been accused of. Gageby also outlined details from the second letter, addressed to the principal, which said that one of the students’ teachers was “constantly” on his phone.It also said he was looking at photos of “naked girls” and that he had taken photos of students in PE class. When the PE teacher was made aware of this letter he was “disgusted and horrified”, that he was now second guessing every interaction he was having with people and that he felt someone was trying to ruin his reputation. The teacher, the subject of Wednesday’s proceedings and whose union subscription has lapsed, had no legal representation but was assisted by a non-legally trained advocate.The advocate submitted that the case did not warrant a removal from the register considering the sustained mental health treatment that the teacher has undergone and the convergence of events, both professional and personal, which led to “an acute stress reaction”, before the letters were sent and which was identified in a report by a consultant psychiatrist. He also told the committee that since February 2024 the teacher voluntarily stepped away from mainstream teaching.The advocate also identified a previous fitness-to-teach case from January, involving a former midlands school principal who spent 18 months in jail for stealing €100,000 from his former school.That teacher was suspended from the Teaching Council register for one month with conditions attached to his registration.The advocate noted that the committee in that case said that save for the mitigating circumstances, including that the teacher had an addiction, that the case would have justified removal from the register. The advocate said there were similar mitigating factors present in his client’s case which he said did not merit removal. He added the events of 2022 were “the lowest point” of the teacher’s life “and not the measure of it”.