The High Court found that the Attorney General can seek an order enabling secondary school teacher Enoch Burke’s wages to be used to pay his contempt of court penalty, reports RTE.
Mr Justice David Nolan ruled this afternoon that Mr Burke owes just over €79,000 in fines for continuing to attend Wilson’s Hospital School in Westmeath despite a court order to stop.
In early 2023, a High Court judge decided that he must pay a €700 fee each day for continuing to attend the school in violation of the court’s injunction, reports RTE.
Mr Justice Nolan stated that he had continued to attend the school since its reopening in January this year, “in flagrant breach” of court orders.
The court said Mr Burke had not purified his disdain but had “doubled down on it,” and that he appeared to consider himself as a martyr, reports RTE.
He stated that Mr Burke had not paid any of the fines and was still receiving his pay from the Department of Education.
The judge determined that the Attorney General may pursue a garnishee order, which permits a creditor to collect a debt from a third party who owes money to the debtor.
He stated that all the school wanted to do was function as a school, and that it had already spent a large amount of money and effort seeking Mr Burke, reports RTE.
He stated that he believes the Attorney General should intervene in the public interest, and that he will make the Attorney General, as well as the Ministers of Finance and Education, party to the proceedings.
The judge further stated that he plans to impose a fresh daily fine of €1,400 on Mr Burke for each day that passes until he purges his contempt, reports RTE.
And he requested that Mr Burke give him with sworn documentation of his assets and income before the end of business next Friday.
Mr. Burke has appealed his dismissal from the institution, reports RTE.
Because of ongoing legal actions, Mr Burke’s appeal has yet to be heard, and he is still receiving his teacher’s income.
The judge stated that he had received communication from Mr Burke, in which Mr Burke essentially “rehashed” his assertions that the school and courts were violating his fundamental rights.
Judge Nolan stated that Mr Burke had spent 513 days in Mountjoy Prison because he refused to follow the principal’s instruction to use the “they” pronoun in relation to a student, and that every judge had refused to acknowledge the truth and uphold the constitution and the law, reports RTE.
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