An Irish teacher who refused to refer to a transitioning transgender student as ‘they’ rather than ‘he’ in May last year is set to spend Christmas in prison.
Enoch Burke was jailed for a second time in September for ignoring a court order that banned him from the grounds of his former school in Ireland’s Co Westmeath.
A review of his detention was held at the High Court today where Burke refused to purge his contempt by giving an undertaking that he would obey the court order to stay away from Wilson’s Hospital School, from which he was fired last year.
Lawyers for the school said the former teacher refused to purge his contempt, and that they would ask with ‘great reluctance’ that he stay in Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison.
The judge said it was clear Mr Burke had no intention of purging his contempt, and that he saw no reason to release him until he did so.
The next review will be held February 27, the judge said, adding that Burke could come to court to give assurances that he would abide by the order at any time.
Burke, an Evangelical Christian, has spent 95 days in prison after he was jailed on September 9, and he will now remain in prison over Christmas.
The row broke out more than a year ago, when during a meeting in 2022 with the headteacher and his deputy, Burke said that his beliefs meant he ‘opposed transgenderism’.
The detention of Irish teacher Enoch Burke – who refused to refer to a transitioning transgender student as ‘they’ rather than ‘he’ in May last year – is set to be reviewed today
Following this, Burke publicly criticised the headteacher’s ‘demand’ that staff use students’ chosen pronouns, following a service at the Church of Ireland school to celebrate its 260th anniversary
Burke was accused of ‘breaching the confidence’ of the transitioning student, and as a result, the teacher was suspended with pay.
He was later fired for gross misconduct in August last year.
However, Burke continued showing up at the school – prompting his former employer to obtain a court order to get him to stay away from the grounds.
In September last year, Burke was jailed for 100 days for ignoring the court order.
During an appeal, the teacher argued that he was being imprisoned because of his Christian beliefs, and was released days before Christmas 2022.
But Burke was imprisoned for the second time in September this year for refusing to stay away from the school again – and has been told he will remain in prison indefinitely until he agrees to comply with the court order.
In order to secure his release, he has to ‘purge his contempt’ – something he has previously said he cannot do because of his religion beliefs.
His loyal family, who are known for their radical religious activism and involvement in other high court legal cases, continue to protest at the school.
They were also present at Tuesday’s hearing, with the judge having to rise five time throughout due to interruptions from Mr Burke’s mother Martina, sister Ammi, father Sean and brother Isaac – as well as Burke’s own submissions.
The judge said these submissions had nothing to do with the sole issue before the court, according to Ireland’s public service broadcaster RTE.
The judge also said that it was regrettable that he had to rise on a number of occasions to maintain order in the court, and that police were needed to intervene.
RTE reported the judge as saying the ‘tag team nature’ of the interruptions – presumably by the family – showed they have been done to cause maximum disruption, and that they would not be tolerated.
The Burke family maintain Enoch is being persecuted for his Christian beliefs – while his supporters have insisted the whole ‘country is behind him’.
However, others less sympathetic to the cause view his stubborn refusal and his family’s protests as attention seeking, with one newspaper columnist pointing out that the Burkes ‘like to get their own way’.
The family, from Castlebar, County Mayo, are fundamentalist evangelical Christians.
Parents Martina and Sean Burke have ten children – Ammi, Elijah, Enoch, Esther, Isaac, Jemima, Josiah, Keren, Kezia, and Simeon.
They have hit the headlines in the past due to their anti-LGBT protests, including in 2017, 2018 and 2019 when they protests the annual gay pride parade in Castlebar.
It was also revealed in 2023 by the Irish independent that Enoch spent several thousands of euros on Facebook s attacking LGBT politicians such as Katherine Zappone and Maria Walsh during the 2019 EU parliament elections.
Burke has been jailed twice for refusing to stay away from Wilson’s Hospital School (pictured), as he had been ordered to do by the courts
His loyal family, who are known for their radical religious activism and involvement in other high court legal cases, continue to protest at the school
The saga began in spring 2022 when headteacher Niamh McShane sent an email to her staff informing them of the student’s new name and pronouns.
After receiving the email, Burke is said to have raised his issue with the change of pronouns during a staff meeting on May 10.
While giving evidence in a later trial, deputy headteacher John Galligan said that Burke ‘erupted’ during the meeting and ‘changed colour completely’.
In a follow-up meeting between the headteacher, her deputy and Burke, Mr Galligan claimed the jailed teacher repeated how he was ‘opposed to transgenderism’ as a result of his religion.
Following this, Burke is said to have publicly interjected after a religious service celebrating the school’s 260th anniversary to criticise Ms McShane’s supposed ‘demand’ that staff refer to the student by their chosen pronouns.
Following the chapel service, Burke is alleged to have approached the headteacher at a meal where he asked her to withdraw her ‘demand’ again.
As a result of this, the headteacher believed Burke was guilty of gross misconduct – as other students may not have been aware the student was transitioning.
Ms Freda Malone, who worked at the school as a guidance counsellor, claims Burke ‘breached the confidence’ of the student on two occasions during that occasion.
Speaking at a High Court hearing in March this year, Ms Malone said the headteacher was escorted home by other guests at the event and they later ‘formed a ring’ around her home out of concern for her safety.
In August last year, Ms McShane submitted a stage-four report to the chair of the board John Rogers about Burke’s outbursts – which prompted the representative to arrange a meeting with the teacher. The purpose of the meeting was to decide if Burke should be suspended or face any kind of disciplinary.
After this, the board made the unanimous decision to place Burke on paid leave while they dealt with the misconduct allegation.
Enoch Burke is seen being removed by Gardaí on January 25 after following a bus through school gates, despite a court order banning him from the grounds
Enoch’s siblings Ammi and Josiah Burke seen outside an Irish court in October 2023. The pair have been vocal in their support of Enoch
Despite being put on leave, Burke is said to have attended a staff meeting at the start of the school year. After repeatedly arriving on school grounds, Burke was allegedly asked to leave ‘every hour’ by the deputy head.
In May 2023, the Irish High Court ruled that the school had acted lawfully in suspending Burke and said Enoch had been ‘trespassing’ on their grounds.
In an attempt to keep Burke away from the premises while they conducted the investigation, the school took out a temporary court order against the teacher – which still didn’t deter him.
In August last year, Enoch was sued by the school for his failure to comply with the court order and later arrested for being in contempt of court.
At his initial hearing on September 6 that year, Mr Burke told Judge Quinn: ‘I am a teacher and I don’t want to go to prison. I want to be in my classroom today, that’s where I was this morning when I was arrested.’
‘I love my school, with its motto Res Non Verba, actions not words, but I am here today because I said I would not call a boy a girl.’
When the case went to the High Court the following week, Burke, who was representing himself, maintained that he would not purge his contempt of court for violating the order, insisting that he was being persecuted for his faith.
When asked by Judge Eileen Roberts if he would abide by the order, Burke said: ‘I cannot do that. I go back to jail as a law-abiding citizen of the state always. But God first.’ Addressing the court, Burke said: ‘The question is not will I purge my contempt but how this court order could have been granted?
‘The court is asking me to purge my contempt, but this court has robbed me of my constitutional right. It was wrong what the court did. How can I purge my contempt of that which is wrong?’
But Judge Roberts disagreed with his argument. The teacher was escorted out of the court to prison by three prison guards to loud applause from the public gallery with many hollering: ‘The country is with you Enoch.’
Pictured: Enoch Burke seen outside Wilson’s Hospital School in Co Westmeath one week after he was dismissed in January 2023
Dozens of people packed the public gallery shouting ‘disgrace’ and ‘shame’ following the judge’s decision – something that would become a theme of future hearings.
The teacher served more than 100 days behind bars before being released on December 21 last year on an ‘open-ended- basis.
On January 18, Burke and his family interrupted a school board meeting, which was being held at the Mullingar Park Hotel in Westmeath, with police intervening.
Two days later, it was announced that Burke had officially been dismissed from his position at the school for for intimidating and harassing a colleague and breaching the confidence of the child who was in the process of transitioning.
At the time, a statement from the school read: ‘He was informed in person at 3:30pm this afternoon in the presence of chairperson of the board of management John Rogers and principal Frank Milling that he was dismissed.’
One week later, the High Court ruled that Burke would be fined €700 a day if he continued ignoring the court order which requires him to stay away from the school.
Burke appealed the board’s decision to dismiss him – which resulted in the case going to the Irish High Court in March.
Mr Justice Owens excluded the teacher on the first day after he continually interrupted proceedings and refused to comply with rules.
Scenes of pandemonium broke out at the Court of Appeal, as Burke, his parents and three of his siblings were physically dragged out of the courtroom by gardaí.
Enoch’s mother, Martina Burke, accused the judges of ‘bowing to the altar of transgenderism’ while waving a copy of the Constitution.
His sister Ammi, a solicitor, also attempted to argue with the judges mid-ruling, saying her brother’s constitutional rights were not being upheld. The judge asked her to sit down, and then requested that gardaí remove her.
During the hearing, Freda Malone said the school was concerned for the transgender student’s safety and feared Burke would continue making public protests in front of other students.
Meanwhile, Mr Galligan discussed Burke’s initial outburst at the staff meeting and his repeated attempts to remove the teacher from the premises during his suspension.
Irish teacher Enoch Burke leaves the the Court of Appeal in Dublin, following a unanimous ruling to dismiss his appeal against court orders made against him, Tuesday March 7, 2023
Burke’s sister Ammi is forcibly removed from the Court of Appeal in March for interrupting a judgment being read out
Following the hearing, Justice Owens made an order restraining Burke from trespassing on the school premises – but noted that this did not prevent him from being outside the gates.
In July, Burke was ordered to pay €15,000 to Wilson’s Hospital School to cover their legal fees and for damages.
Appearing before Justice Alexander Owens, Burke said that objecting to people being transgender was his right.
Then in September, Burke was jailed for a second time after refusing to comply with the High Court order.
The school’s new headteacher Frank Milling said that having to lock doors was creating a health and safety issue for faculty.
On top of this, the headteacher said he was unable to carry out some of his everyday duties as he has to monitor Burke – who has been known to follow cars through the gates.
After gaining access by following a bus in January, Mr Milling – who has expressed concern for how the situation is impacting current students – told Burke: ‘Stop. Stop. Get off the property.’
Despite being removed from the premises by two uniformed gardaí, Burke returned to the gates following his release later that same day.
Speaking at the gates, Burke told local press that he had been ‘wrongfully arrested’ for trespassing and insisted he has ‘broken no laws’ and ‘done nothing wrong’, the Irish Independent reports.
Justice Mark Heslin said there was ‘no dispute’ that Burke has ‘fragrantly breached’ court orders to stay away from the school.
Former history and German teacher Burke seen arriving at the Four Courts in Dublin after being dismissed by the school
As a result, the judge ordered that Burke remain in prison ‘indefinitely’ until he agrees to follow the court order and not return to his old workplace.
After finding Burke to be in contempt of court, Justice Mark Heslin asked the teacher on three occasions if he understood the order against him. However, Burke remained silent.
Burke was returned to Mountjoy Prison – where he spent his first prison sentence – and was told he could be released if he agreed to stay away from the school.
The former teacher has been imprisoned at the facility since September 8 and has been participating in court hearings via video link.