A court-appointed receiver overseeing teacher Enoch Burke’s salary may soon be permitted to seize his other assets, as the funds in his bank account are insufficient to cover the daily fines imposed for repeatedly breaching court orders by attending his former school, the High Court has heard, reports Breaking News.
Since Christmas, Mr. Burke has continued to show up at Wilson’s Hospital School in Westmeath despite having served 512 days in prison for defying court orders prohibiting his presence there.
The High Court had initially set a daily fine of €700 in January 2023 for each time he attended the school, which was recently doubled to €1,400, reports Breaking News.
Last week, rather than ordering him back to prison, Mr. Justice David Nolan directed that measures be taken to ensure payment of the fines. He appointed a receiver to take control of Mr. Burke’s salary and issued freezing orders on his bank account, as Mr. Burke is still being paid as a teacher while an appeal regarding his dismissal remains unresolved.
On Tuesday, instead of going to the school, Mr. Burke attended court, where the judge allowed him to argue against making the order on his salary permanent, reports Breaking News.
The hearing began with submissions from Brian Kennedy SC, representing the Attorney General (AG), who stated that the AG, along with the receiver, was considering expanding the receiver’s authority to include Mr. Burke’s other assets.
Mr. Kennedy explained that Mr. Burke’s bank account held around €40,000, which was not enough to cover the €79,100 in fines already accrued, let alone additional fines for ongoing breaches of the court order.
In response, Mr. Burke argued that the core issue—the violation of his constitutional rights to religious freedom and free expression regarding his Christian beliefs on transgender issues—had not been addressed, reports Breaking News.
The judge, however, emphasized that the only matter before the court was the request to make the order on his salary permanent.
When Mr. Burke complained that Mr. Kennedy had been given 20 minutes to present his case while he was being limited to five, the judge granted him five minutes to speak.
During his remarks, Mr. Burke claimed the AG had acknowledged that seizing his salary was an unprecedented action in the history of the State, reports Breaking News.
At one point, when the judge reminded him to stay on topic, Mr. Burke responded, “grow up a little please.”
He also referenced scripture, stating that the Bible affirms only male and female sexes, in response to an earlier biblical reference made by the judge. He further asserted that under the preamble to the Constitution, the judge was “accountable to God” and would one day have to answer for his decisions, reports Breaking News.
After allowing Mr. Burke to speak for more than five minutes, the judge told him his time was up and once again asked why the order should not be made permanent.
As Mr. Burke continued speaking, the judge proceeded to make the order permanent and adjourned the case for two weeks to allow the AG to file an application to extend the receiver’s authority, reports Breaking News.
The judge then left the courtroom while Mr. Burke continued addressing the court. Meanwhile, an unidentified man at the back of the room repeatedly called out “judge” while holding up a piece of paper.
Mr. Burke was accompanied by his mother, Martina, and siblings, Ammi and Isaac, reports Breaking News.
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