What those of you who have never experienced the attentions of the 'Jimmy Martin' brigade need to understand is that they really harness their resources and their allies to maximise their impact. They phone and phone, email, write letters and put pressure not just on those in charge but on secretaries and other staff members. Often it is these people who endure the brunt of the hostility. They will spread their net wide and pressure a Catholic organisation's benefactors and donors aiming to impact on funding. They will not only complain to their friends in the media but to the police etc. All of this can happen really fast, over night in fact. We still do not have an effective way to deal with them and 'once bitten twice shy.'
The 'Catholic' school system in Ireland is the State system because the majority of schools were founded as Catholic but funded by the State. That's been the system here since the British ruled. Few 'Catholic' schools actively keep to that ethos. Most of the school funding is from the State and if the politicians get on their 'high horses' about something the pressure on the school management just mounts.
In a sane world this would be recognisable as blatant bullying but being Catholics means that we can't be victims of bullying.