High Court will consider releasing Enoch Burke despite refusal to purge contempt

Ann O'Loughlin

A High Court judge has said he will consider whether to release Enoch Burke from prison despite the schoolteacher’s ongoing refusal to comply with a court order not to trespass at his former place of work

Justice Brian Cregan on Wednesday also considered evidence relating to fines accrued by Enoch Burke over the course of the teacher’s long-running dispute with Wilson’s Hospital School.

Lawyers for the school submitted that Burke owed some €452,100, but were asked by the judge to recalculate the figure after he raised an issue with it and indicated it should be lower.

Burke has spent over 700 days in jail across different spells over his contempt of court orders banning him from his former workplace, Wilson’s Hospital School.

The school is currently closed for summer break. The High Court has previously released Mr Burke from prison during school holidays, despite the teacher’s refusal to give a court undertaking not to trespass at the school.

The school suspended and later dismissed Enoch Burke over his conduct towards then-principal Niamh McShane at a school religious event in June 2022.

The confrontation arose in circumstances where McShane had earlier directed teachers to address a student by a new name and with the pronouns “they” and “them”.

Burke, an evangelical Christian, has maintained this request went against his religious beliefs.

When he continued to trespass at the school following his suspension, the school sought court orders banning him from the premises.

Enoch Burke was formally let go from his position at the school last month after a disciplinary appeals panel (Dap) threw out his appeal to his dismissal. Burke has indicated an intention to challenge the Dap’s finding.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Justice Cregan reviewed several matters arising in Mr Burke’s near-four-years-long dispute with Wilson’s Hospital School.

Responding to the judge’s question about Burke’s potential release from Castlerea Prison, barrister Rosemary Mallon, for the school, said her client’s position has always been that it has no desire for him to be in prison.

However, she said the school had a “real apprehension” – given Mr Burke’s previous conduct and the fact that he maintains he is still an employee of the school – that should he be released, he would trespass again at the school when it reopens after summer.

Counsel said that at this point in time, it seemed the only way to prevent this occurring was, “unfortunately”, through Burke’s imprisonment.

Counsel said the school accepted that the case is “extraordinary and unprecedented”, and was cognisant of the difficulty it has caused the courts.

The judge said he would reflect on the matter and give judgment next week.

The judge also said he was considering making an order against three of Enoch Burke’s family members – brother Isaac, mother Martina and sister Ammi – preventing them from attending court in-person. The trio have been removed from several hearings in Burke’s various cases on account of disruptive behaviour.

The judge said that if they wished to make submissions on the matter, they should do so by next week.

The judge reviewed evidence submitted to the court relating to fines owed by Burke, arising from penalties imposed by various judges over his contempt of court.

According to their calculations, Enoch Burke had accumulated fines of €452,100 over the course of the dispute, Counsel for the school said.

However, the judge asked that a further affidavit on the issue of fines be filed after raising issues with how the figure was calculated.

Barrister Niall Ó hUiginn, appearing for a receiver appointed to Burke’s Department of Education salary, said his client had collected some €51,000.

Some of this money had been paid forward to the school to satisfy debts, while the rest of the money went to the Court Service’s fines office.

There was an overpayment of about €700 to the school, the court heard. Mallon said the overpayment will be repaid.

Enoch Burke was removed from the Department of Education’s payroll last month following his formal dismissal from Wilson’s Hospital School, the court heard.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Burke refused to give a court undertaking not to trespass at the school.

Throughout the hearing, he appeared via video-link, repeated arguments relating to what he claimed was the court’s failure to address the legality of the request to address a student by gender-neutral pronouns, and his subsequent suspension.

“My religious belief is ‘He made them male and female’, that’s from the gospel of Matthew,” he said. “I’ve a constitutional right to that belief.”

The judge told Burke if he wanted to bring a constitutional case, he should do so. The judge said the court can only deal with the issue in front of it.

The case returns next week.