Enoch Burke, the Irish schoolteacher who was sacked from his job following a confrontation stemming from his refusal to use a transgender student's preferred pronouns, was released from prison today, Friday, December 20.
Burke, who was behind bars at Mountjoy Prison since September 2 for contempt of court, was released on Friday following a High Court hearing in Dublin.
“It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Mr. Burke is exploiting his imprisonment for his own ends," High Court Justice David Nolan said in court on Friday, according to the Irish Independent.
“It is clear to me he is being persuaded by others that he is best seen as a martyr," he added.
Co Mayo native Burke was accompanied in court on Friday by his mother Martina and siblings Ammi, Isaac, and Josiah.
Earlier this week, Sean Burke, Enoch's father and Martin'as wife, was sentenced to two months in prison for attacking a female garda in the Court of Appeal in March 2023.
Burke has spent more than 500 days in prison over three separate stints for his refusal to comply with a court order that dictates he stay away from Wilson's Hospital School in Co Westmeath, the school he was sacked from in January 2023.
Burke argues that he is being imprisoned for his Evangelical Christian religious beliefs, but several judges have rejected the notion, arguing instead that he is being imprisoned for his refusal to comply with court orders.
While he has been released from prison, Justice Nolan doubled the daily fine Burke will face if he returns to the school grounds from €700 to €1,400.
Burke, who is still being paid his salary from Wilson's Hospital School, has not paid the fines previously imposed on him - Justice Nolan said on Friday that he now owes the State €193,000.
Lawyers from Wilson's Hospital School previously raised concerns that there was no mechanism to collect fines from Burke. On Friday, Justice Nolan directed that representatives of the Attorney General and the Department of Finance come before the court to advise on what mechanism is available to ensure Burke’s salary could be used to discharge the fines.
January 26, 2023: Enoch Burke being driven by his father to Wilson's Hospital School in Co Westmeath, where he had been sacked from. (RollingNews.ie)
In August 2022, Burke, from Castlebar in Co Mayo, was suspended on full pay as part of a disciplinary process after he allegedly confronted the school's then-principal Niamh McShane at a school dinner two months prior.
The confrontation came after McShane emailed all staff requesting that they refer to a transgender student by their new name and preferred pronouns.
Burke, an Evangelical Christian, repeatedly objected to McShane's request.
McShane allegedly told Burke that she would be willing to speak to him about the issues but added that the school dinner would not be an appropriate place to have the conversation.
However, Burke allegedly followed McShane and began shouting at her, prompting other people present at the dinner to stand between them to prevent Burke from continuing the confrontation.
The school obtained an injunction against Burke in August 2022 after he continued to attend the school despite being placed on administrative leave.
Burke was subsequently jailed that September for breaching a court order that prevented him from attending the school while a disciplinary process was carried out. He also refused to purge his contempt of court.
Burke was released from prison shortly before Christmas 2022 despite continuing to refuse to purge his contempt of court. High Court judge Justice Brian O'Moore said he ordered his release as he believed Burke was "exploiting his imprisonment for his own ends."
However, Burke continued to defy the court order after his release by showing up at the school when the term resumed in January.
Later that month, Burke was formally dismissed by Wilson's Hospital School at the conclusion of a disciplinary hearing.
Still, he continued to return to the school, eventually prompting Justice Brian O'Moore to impose a fine of €700 for every day that he attended.
Burke accrued fines of €88,900 before the end of the academic year, the Irish Independent previously reported.
August 28, 2023: Enoch Burke at Wilson's Hospital School in Co Westmeath. (RollingNews.ie)
In May 2023, the High Court ruled that Wilson's Hospital School behaved lawfully when it suspended Burke the year prior. The court also dismissed Burke's claims that the disciplinary process against him was in breach of his constitutional rights.
Two months later, the High Court ordered Burke to pay legal costs to Wilson's Hospital School. Delivering the ruling, Justice Alexander Owens also issued an order preventing Burke from trespassing on the premises of the school, although the order did not prevent Burke from standing outside the school gates.
The following month, Burke returned to the school for the first day of the new school year to continue his protest. At the time, he was liable for more than €140,000 in fines for breach of court orders.
The school's Board of Management asked the High Court for orders seeking Burke's attachment and committal to prison over his deliberate failure to comply with a permanent injunction granted by Justice Alexander Owens earlier in 2023. According to The Irish Examiner, the board claimed that in breach of the injunction, Burke had attended both "outside and inside the school."
On September 7 last year, Justice Mark Heslin said in the High Court that there “was no dispute” that Burke had “flagrantly breached” the orders to stay away from the school, and ordered that he be committed to prison “indefinitely,” until he agrees to stay away from the school.
It was later reported that the school posted a sign at its gates that said "Private Property - Trespassers will be prosecuted.”
This past June, Burke, who was still in prison, again appeared before the High Court in a bid to overturn what he described as a "gravely flawed" and "unconstitutional" injunction granted by Justice Owens last year.
Justice Mark Sanfey ordered Burke's release on June 28 despite noting that Burke had not purged his contempt of court.
Justice Sanfey said he was directing Burke's release after a review of the situation, stating that state examinations had now been completed and that the school is on holidays.
The judge said he hoped Burke would use the time to reflect on the situation and warned him that the injunction remains in place.
On September 2, Burke was again imprisoned after he continued to show up to Wilson's Hospital School, continuing his defiance of the court orders.
In court on Friday, Justice Nolan said: “He [Mr Burke] asserts that his religious beliefs prevent him from describing transgender people as ‘they’ and he projects his imprisonment as some form of punishment visited upon him because he has stood up for his beliefs.
"He is profoundly incorrect.
“His jailing has been brought about by his own decision to breach court orders by attending at the school when he knows he should not do so.
“He has chosen to interpret the orders of the court as requiring him to act in a manner inconsistent with his religious beliefs when it is patently clear to the general public and anybody following this matter that this is indeed not the case.”
Justice Nolan said Burke is free to hold his views and to speak about them trenchantly but he was not free to go around “flouting the law."
“The reason why Mr. Burke is here today is he will not abide by the court order,” he said.
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