Jailed schoolteacher Enoch Burke has again refused to purge his contempt of a court order banning him from Wilson’s Hospital School, his one-time workplace.
In May 2023, Judge Alexander Owens ruled the Co Westmeath school validly had suspended Burke from his teaching position, and subsequently ordered that Burke be restrained from attending at the school premises.
The school suspended – and later dismissed – Burke over his conduct towards the then-principal Niamh McShane at a school religious event in June 2022. His dismissal is currently subject to a disciplinary appeals panel (Dap) process.
The confrontation arose in circumstances where McShane had earlier requested teachers to address a student by a new name, and with the pronouns “they” and “them”.
Burke, an evangelical Christian, has maintained that this request went against his religious beliefs.
Burke has repeatedly breached the judge’s order to stay away from the school, and is incarcerated at Castlerea Prison over this contempt of court. He has spent more than 600 days in separate spells in jail.
Burke is seeking permission from the Court of Appeal (CoA) to bring a late challenge against Owens’s May 2023 judgment. The CoA reserved judgment in Burke’s application for a late appeal last month.
Burke’s case came before Judge Brian Cregan on Tuesday to review whether he was willing to purge his contempt of Owens’s orders banning him from the school.
Asked whether he was willing to purge his contempt, Burke, appearing via video-link, noted that the reasons for his imprisonment are currently before the CoA.
He repeated his position that he did not believe he should be in prison, claiming McShane’s instruction to use a student’s preferred pronouns had no standing in law.
He submitted that the position of the Department of Education is that schools cannot be compelled to use a pupil’s preferred pronouns.
“I shouldn’t be in prison, I should be in my classroom, I should be with my students,” Burke said.
Burke also stated that a third disciplinary appeals panel convened to hear his challenge to his dismissal from the school had “crashed”, submitting he was removed from a panel hearing two weeks ago when he objected to the presence of lawyers for the school’s board of management.
He submitted that the Dap and board of management could not allow a “fair hearing” in this matter. “The process is rotten at its core,” he stated.
When the judge repeated his question asking whether he would purge his contempt, Burke said he had “faithfully attended” his workplace for eight years, and this was not trespassing.
The judge said Burke was in breach of Owens’s order and, as of today, it was a valid and lawful order of the High Court.
The judge said it was clear Burke did not wish to purge his contempt, and adjourned the matter for four weeks.
The judge said it was open to Burke to purge his contempt at any time.