Schoolteacher Enoch Burke owes over €208,000 in fines arising from his breach of High Court orders banning him from his former workplace.
Judge Brian Cregan issued a judgment on Wednesday calculating the outstanding fines owed by Enoch Burke, accrued over his four-year dispute with Wilson’s Hospital School in Co Westmeath, reports Breaking News.
Burke was ordered by the court not to trespass at the school in May 2023, after it found the school had validly suspended him from his teaching post.
Throughout the proceedings, several judges imposed fines on Enoch Burke at varying daily rates for every day he trespassed at the school, reports Breaking News.
In his judgment, Judge Cregan said the total fines accrued by Enoch Burke amounted to €273,200.
Burke has paid €64,931.82 in fines — though not voluntarily, as following further court orders, a receiver was appointed over his salary and separately over €40,000 was seized from his bank account, reports Breaking News.
The total fines outstanding stands at €208,268.18, the judge held, adding that Burke has “paid a very heavy price” for his refusal to obey court orders.
Wilson’s Hospital School suspended and later dismissed Enoch Burke over his conduct towards then-principal Niamh McShane at a school religious event in June 2022, reports Breaking News.
The confrontation arose after 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, reports Breaking News.
When he continued to trespass at the school following his suspension, the school sought court orders banning him from the premises.
Burke has continuously breached the order, spending over 700 days in prison across separate spells for contempt of the court order, reports Breaking News.
Judge Cregan recently ordered Mr Burke’s release from Castlerea Prison despite his refusal to give an undertaking to the court not to trespass at the school.
The judge ordered the release for reasons including the “material change” in circumstances arising from the refusal of Burke’s appeal against his dismissal for gross misconduct, reports Breaking News.
Burke is challenging the refusal of his appeal.
In Wednesday’s judgment, the judge said he had concerns about the proportionality of the fines relative to Burke’s income as a teacher, reports Breaking News.
However, the judge noted that Burke has refused to provide information on his assets, leaving the court unable to consider whether the fines should be reduced.
The judge concluded: “Mr Burke has paid a very heavy price for his refusal to obey court orders.
“He has been imprisoned for over 700 days; he has been fined over €273,000 (of which he has paid almost €65,000); he is also facing the enormous legal costs of the school (which I am told run into many hundreds of thousands of euro), and he is facing a disciplinary hearing before the Teaching Council,” the judge said, reports Breaking News.
“In short, he has wasted 700 days of his life in prison, his financial position has been undermined, and his reputation as a teacher damaged,” he said, reports Breaking News.
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