A primary school teacher is under investigation over sectarian comments posted online.

Anne-Marie Clements, who works at St Mark’s in Barrhead, is to be hauled before bosses at East Renfrewshire Council.

Parents raised concerns about allegedly pro-IRA comments posted on a Twitter account in the P7 teacher’s name.

A spokesman for the council admitted that the account is operated by Ms Clements, who is also a Scottish Football Association-approved football coach, according to a picture of credentials posted on her Twitter account.

The local authority has launched an internal investigation into the teacher and reported her to police.

It is understood she is not at the Catholic school today however the council would not confirm whether she had been suspended.

A Twitter account in Anne-Marie Clements’ name showed comments appearing supportive of the provisional IRA as well as abusive comments about “protestants” and Rangers supporters.

Pictures of gun-toting terrorists were also published as well as pictures of the 24-year-old from Blantyre posing with Celtic player Anthony Stokes and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon

One shocked parent, who asked not to be named, said: “This person came to my attention through various retweets that I saw on twitter. I was shocked to discover that she is a teacher at a faith school in East Renfrewshire.

“I think any rational human being would agree that the behaviour shown in the attached screenshots should not be tolerated from anyone, never mind someone empowered with teaching our children from an early, and impressionable age.

“This woman should be removed from her post immediately, and banned from teaching for life.”

Another parent, who also wished to remain anonymous, said: “It’s astonishing that this is a schoolteacher at St Marks, Barrhead. Also an early touches SFA football coach.

“Is this appropriate for this person to be in such a position? The country should know who is teaching our children.”

A spokeswoman for East Renfrewshire Council said they became aware of the Tweets on Monday morning.

“The council has a zero tolerance policy regarding any form of activity which would incite hatred and the comments on social media are totally unacceptable,” said the spokeswoman.

“The matter is subject to a formal investigation through the council’s disciplinary process, in line with our employee code of conduct and the locally agreed conditions for teaching staff.

“The incident has also been reported to Police Scotland.”

The spokeswoman added: “Due to data protection we cannot comment further on a disciplinary matter relating to an individual employee.”

A Police Scotland spokesman said: "We can confirm that a report has been received regarding offensive comments posted online.

"Police enquiries are ongoing to establish any criminality."