A teacher at the centre of a row over a transgender student has been sent to prison for a third time by a Dublin court.
Enoch Burke was arrested by Irish police at Wilson’s Hospital School in County Westmeath today on Monday refusing to abide by a court order instructing him to stay away.
The school board had dismissed Burke from his post after a dispute over his refusal to recognise a transgender student’s new identity.
Burke was brought to the High Court in Dublin on Monday evening, where a judge ruled that he was in breach of the existing court order, and was to be returned to Mountjoy Prison.
Burke accused the court of denying him his religious rights, which included his belief in two genders, male and female. “This is a mockery of justice,” he told the judge.
The ruling was met with an outburst of argument from members of the Burke family present.
Enoch Burke was suspended by Wilson’s Hospital School in August 2022 after a public confrontation with the then-principal. The deeply religious teacher had objected to using the new name and the “they” pronoun of a student who wanted to change gender.
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Despite his suspension, Burke continued to attend the school. An injunction was granted by a judge, preventing Burke from going to Wilson’s Hospital.
This was breached by the teacher, and he was jailed in September 2022 for contempt of court. He spent three months in Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison before being released, but was jailed again in September 2023 after repeatedly showing up at the school.
Burke was told by the court that he would be released if he simply promised to abide by the order, and stay away from the school, but he chose not to do so.
The case was highly publicised in Ireland, dividing opinion between those who felt Burke’s constitutionally-guaranteed religious freedom was being oppressed, and those who thought his behaviour, in school and in court, was unacceptable.
Images of Burke standing outside the school, leather satchel over his shoulder, became the subject of memes. International attention was brought to bear, as the teacher became a lightning rod for culture wars being waged in the United States, the UK and elsewhere.
The teacher was held up as a martyr by many right-wing “anti-woke” commentators, although Burke himself never sought to portray himself as such.
With the school holidays in place, a High Court judge freed Burke again in June this year, but warned him the injunction remained in place. He had spent more than 400 days in prison overall.
The judge expressed hope that Burke would reflect on the situation, but on 22 August the teacher returned to Wilson’s Hospital for the phased start of the new term.
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When Sky News spoke to him at the school gates, Burke insisted that his dismissal from the school was not valid, as the appeal procedure had not been exhausted, and pointed out that he was still being paid. He was there to do his “duty,” he said, which was to teach.
When asked why he would not respect the student’s preferred identity, Burke said: “I teach everyone who’s in front of me. I teach every single student.
“But when I am commanded, when I’m told that I can’t have my religious belief anymore, when I’m told I have to confess belief in transgenderism, instead of my simple belief, which is male and female, that’s just a breach simply of my rights.”
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The school went to the High Court again last month, which led to Monday’s committal.
“I detest prison, it’s a terrible place,” Burke recently told Sky News.
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“You lose your freedom, you’re behind a door for 18 hours a day, at a best-case scenario. It’s a very difficult life for those who are in there.”
