'I shouldn't be here'- Enoch Burke's to remain in prison after he told a court he was not trespassing
Enoch Burke will remain in prison after refusing to obey a court order banning him from trespassing at Wilson’s Hospital School.He appeared in front of the High Court on Tuesday morning and was given the opportunity to purge his contempt of court, which would allow him to leave prison. The former history and German teacher has been engaged in a legal dispute with the Co Westmeath school since 2022.He was suspended following incidents arising from a request from the school’s then-principal to address a student by a new name and pronoun, and later dismissed from his position. Mr Burke has repeatedly argued the direction was unconstitutional and went against his right to express his religious beliefs.He has spent more than 650 days in prison after he was found to have violated court orders instructing him not to trespass at the school. Two weeks ago, Mr Burke made an application to the Court of Appeal against a May 2023 ruling by Mr Justice Alexander Owen which found his suspension from the school was lawful.Part of Mr Burke’s arguments for the appeal center on a statement given by the Department of Education to the Irish Times in January of this year. He claimed, according to the Department of Education, teachers have “no obligation to use the ‘they’ pronoun”.In court on Tuesday, Mr Burke said the former principal of Wilson Hospital School had “no right to make that instruction”.“I should never have been suspended, I should never have spent a day in prison”, he said. “People are scratching their heads” he added “as to why I am now behind a prison door”Mr Cregan told Mr Burke he had not appealed against the ruling about his suspension for “almost three years” and pointed out the judgment from the court of appeal is still reserved. “As of today that (the order not to trespass) is a lawful and valid order of the high court.”Mr Burke appeared in court via video link four years to the month since the dispute began. He said: “I shouldn’t be in prison, I should be in my classroom, I should be with my students, I shouldn’t be here.”Asked by Mr Justice Brian Cregan if he would return to the school if released from prison, Mr Burke replied: “I have faithfully attended at my workplace for eight years, that is not trespassing.”Mr Cregan told him: “You know perfectly well that you are in breach of a High Court order. It is clear, Mr Burke, you don’t want to purge your contempt.”He said Mr Burke could be released at prison at any stage if he committed to staying away from the school. Mr Cregan told Mr Burke “it has been repeated to you ad nauseum” that the court has no “interest or desire” in impeding his religious beliefs.“The school doesn’t want you in prison, the court doesn’t want you in prison,” he said. Mr Burke also told the court a third Disciplinary Appeals Panel (DAP), tasked with examining his dismissal from the school has “crashed”.The DAP held a hearing about Mr Burke on April 24. He had previously failed in a legal bid to prevent it going ahead until after the Court of Appeal delivered its judgment.He said when he arrived he was “met by a barrister and solicitor from the board of management” and “the chairperson refused to instruct them to leave”. Mr Burke said he was then removed from the meeting.
