The principal of a Christian Brothers school is sending students home if their hair is deemed to be too long.

Teenagers in possession of longer than desirable locks at one Dublin Christian Brothers School have been issued with an ultimatum by their principal - if they don’t get a haircut they will be sent home.

But how short is short? One student who already had a haircut was told to go home by one of the Christian Brothers, as by their standards it was not short enough. He complied and had his hair trimmed by his mother during lunch break.

Upon his return to school that afternoon the Christian Brother did not agree, and the young man was sent home for the second time,

He pulls a little bit out over my ear and said, get that off. That’s denying me another day at school.

A second student who also got his hair cut two weeks ago has flatly refused to visit the barbers again. He says that he will leave school altogether if necessary, as a short back and sides will not satisfy the principal,

He doesn’t want a haircut, he wants us to get scalped.

An RTÉ News report broadcast on 24 September 1970. The reporter is Reg Cullen.