Five former and two current teachers at Roscommon Community School have given evidence at the trial of former principal Frank Chambers, who is facing charges of theft and false accounting related to the school canteen.
Mr Chambers has pleaded not guilty to all 34 charges and Judge Francis Comerford has directed the jury to find him not guilty on seven charges of false accounting.
The teachers told the court that if they needed money for things like paying referees or art supplies they would go to Mr Chambers' office, and he would give them cash from the safe.
Paul Casserly told the court that he set up rugby when he taught at the school.
He said that in the early days, he would help with girl's Gaelic football teams and would pay referees with cash given to him by Mr Chambers.
Mr Casserly, who played rugby with Connacht, said he would organise trips to Connacht rugby games, which he said were not official school trips, but Mr Chambers would pay for the teachers' tickets.
He said basically if someone incurred expenditure, including mileage to in-service training, which was not covered, Mr Chambers would give them cash to cover that.
Two former teachers, Tom Flynn and Paul Conroy, who have played for Galway's senior footballers, as well as current teacher Conor Devanney, a former captain of the Roscommon Gaelic football team, gave evidence of receiving cash from Mr Chambers to pay referees.
Fergal Timmons, who has been teaching in the school since 2010 told the court that he would have paid an average of €120 a week to referees and Mr Chambers gave him the cash from the safe. On rare occasions, he would have given him bags of coins.
Danni Barrett told the court that she was given €534 in bags of coins to cover the cost of her accommodation on a school exchange trip to Germany. She said Mr Chambers was away at the time and she needed the money before she left so he told Patricia Byrne, who ran the canteen, to give her the money.
Art teacher Serena Slevin Joyce said the art budget for the school was very generous and Mr Chambers would give her cash for emergency supplies and for expenses to do with the annual art exhibition, which showcased the students' work.
She said she went to Ikea in Dublin and B&Q in Galway to buy frames for the first exhibition. She gave Mr Chambers receipts, and he also covered the cost of her travel and gave her about €600.
The trial continues this afternoon.
