Teacher Enoch Burke has been told by the High Court that he will not be released for Christmas and will remain in prison until he agrees to refrain from trespassing at the school where he was previously employed, reports RTE.
Mr Burke was returned to prison two weeks ago for contempt of court after repeatedly presenting himself at Wilson’s Hospital School despite an order instructing him to stay away, reports RTE.
The judge accused Mr Burke and his family of mounting the most deliberate, continuous and coordinated challenge to the authority of the civil courts and the rule of law witnessed in this country in recent years, reports RTE.
The court was also informed that the Attorney General is considering a request from the judge to evaluate whether criminal contempt of court proceedings should be brought against Mr Burke, his brother Isaac, his mother Martina and his sister Ammi for their behaviour in court, reports RTE.
The conflict between Mr Burke and the school has continued since August 2022. He has spent more than 500 days in jail for refusing to comply with court directives. He insists he is attending the school because he believes he has a right to do so. The courts have generally released him during school holidays, although he typically resumes going to the school once term begins.
In a ruling last month, Mr Justice Brian Cregan said fines and the appointment of security staff had not deterred Mr Burke from appearing at the school, leaving imprisonment as the only remaining option, reports RTE.
At this morning’s hearing, Mr Burke again refused to give an assurance that he would respect the court order if he were freed. He argued that he was not in contempt and claimed he respected the law. He said he was imprisoned because he would not lie and had refused to follow his principal’s instruction to use a new name and they/them pronouns for a student, reports RTE.
Judge Cregan said Mr Burke remained in blatant defiance of the court’s orders and that no amount of denial would change that. He also said he would not review the matter on 18 December as had originally been planned, reports RTE.
He informed Mr Burke that the court would not release him for Christmas, Easter or the Summer holidays and that he would remain in custody until he purges his contempt by agreeing to stay away from the school, reports RTE.
The judge added that Mr Burke would be treated the same as anyone else found in contempt and would not receive “preferential treatment” by being freed during school breaks, reports RTE.
Mr Burke said he had never sought special treatment or a “Christmas gift”, insisting he only wanted the court to be honest. He also claimed at one stage that he was “speaking for the people of the country”. Judge Cregan replied that he was not an elected representative, reports RTE.
The judge awarded the costs of the application to have Mr Burke returned to prison against him and in favour of the school, the Department of Education and the receiver appointed over his bank account, reports RTE.
The court was also told that a Disciplinary Appeals Panel will be convened by the Department of Education on 13 December to hear Mr Burke’s appeal against his dismissal from the school.
Mr Burke told the court that he believes the appeal should not proceed until he files a further appeal with the Supreme Court. He said there were two Court of Appeal judgments in his case with “diametrically opposed” conclusions regarding what he said was the core issue for the Appeals Panel – the reason he was disciplined in the first place, reports RTE.
He said the first judgment found no evidence that he had been disciplined for his stance on transgenderism, while the second judgment found that the substance of his objections to the principal did play a role in the disciplinary process, reports RTE.
Mr Burke confirmed he had written to the Court of Appeal on the matter and now plans to bring the issue before the Supreme Court.
The judge said that whether the disciplinary appeal should proceed was a matter for the appeals panel.
The final issue addressed was an application by Mr Burke seeking amendments to the judge’s ruling from last week.
He objected to being described as “a baleful and malign presence… an intruder, stalking the school, its teachers and its pupils”. He also disputed the characterisation of him as a potential danger to staff and students, reports RTE.
He argued that the judge had incorrectly suggested that teachers and pupils had filed affidavits, something he said had not occurred, reports RTE.
Mr Burke presented definitions of the words “baleful” and “malign”, stating that baleful implies a threat to cause harm.
However, Mr Justice Cregan said Mr Burke had clearly sourced his definition from a Google search and that it was not consistent with the Oxford English Dictionary, which he described as authoritative, reports RTE.
He added that Mr Burke did not earn “brownie points” simply because he had not engaged in physical violence, reports RTE.
Mr Burke said he was not roaming corridors as claimed by the judge and argued that stalking was a criminal offence, insisting he had treated everyone in the school community with respect, reports RTE.
The judge responded that this was utter nonsense. He said the school did not want Mr Burke on the premises and had hired security personnel to prevent him entering.
He told Mr Burke that he was trespassing and should not be anywhere near the school and compared him to Hamlet stalking Elsinore, saying Mr Burke was living in “fantasy land”, reports RTE.
Mr Burke accused the judge of spreading disinformation, but the judge said there had been an avalanche of lies and falsehoods from Mr Burke and his family about the reasons for his imprisonment. He said he would deliver his decision on Mr Burke’s application at a later date, reports RTE.
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