Secondary school teacher Enoch Burke will remain in prison for Christmas after refusing to give an undertaking to comply with a High Court order to stay away from the school where he used to work.
Mr Burke was jailed for the second time on 9 September for breaching a High Court injunction directing him to stay away from Wilson's Hospital School in Co Westmeath.
The matter was brought back before the court this morning to see if Mr Burke was willing to purge his contempt by giving an undertaking that he would obey the order.
Lawyers for the school told the court that if Mr Burke refused to purge his contempt, they would be asking with "great reluctance" that he remain in prison.
Mr Justice Mark Sanfey rose from the bench five times due to interruptions from members of Mr Burke’s family - his mother Martina, sister Ammi, father Sean and brother Isaac - as well as Mr Burke’s refusal to stop making submissions which the judge said had nothing to do with the sole issue before the court.
Mr Burke’s submissions focused in particular on the appointment of former Attorney General Maire Whelan to the Court of Appeal, where she later ruled on his case.
The family members repeated on a number of occasion that her appointment, in 2017, "stinks to high heaven".
The judge said it was very clear Mr Burke was not prepared to purge his contempt and he saw no reason to interfere with the order that he be brought to Mountjoy.
Mr Justice Sanfey said Mr Burke was to remain in prison until he purged his contempt and he would review the matter again on 27 February.
However, he said he wanted to make it clear that Mr Burke could come to court at any time to give an undertaking that he was prepared to abide by the order.
The judge said it was regrettable that he had to rise on a number of occasions to maintain basic order in the court and that the assistance of gardaí was needed.
He said the tag team nature of the interruptions showed they had been done in an orchestrated way to cause maximum disruption.
He said that would not be tolerated, in the same way the flouting of a court order would not be tolerated.
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During his submissions, Mr Burke told the judge he found it difficult to listen to the barrister representing the school "pontificating".
Mr Burke said the school and its lawyers were engaged in the "obstruction of justice" by refusing to release minutes of board meetings relating to his dismissal. He said he found it very difficult to listen to barrister, Rosemary Mallon's "sanctimonious platitudes".
He told the court he had spent more than 200 days in Mountjoy prison between this time and the last time. He was a teacher and had spent the last year and a half in and out of prison he said - "a place for drug barons, armed robbers, murderers and those who conspire to commit murder".
Mr Burke said the reason he was in court was that the principal of his school had demanded that teachers accept transgenderism and show obedience to that in word and deed. He said he could not deny his "Christian beliefs in male and female" and had been punished for that.
Mr Burke referenced a number of the judges who had dealt with his case since September 2022. He said the judge "who most obstructed justice" was Mr Justice Brian O’Moore, who ruled against him on a number of occasions and imposed a €700 daily fine on Mr Burke for contempt of court.
Mr Burke said Mr Justice O’Moore had been "rewarded for his deeds" with his nomination to the Court of Appeal "by the first gay Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar".
Mr Burke then focused on the Court of Appeal and in particular on Ms Justice Maire Whelan, the former Attorney General who was appointed to the court in 2017.
Lawyers for the school objected to Mr Burke’s "personalised attacks on the judiciary and on solicitors". Ms Mallon said they had no relevance to the question of whether Mr Burke was willing to purge his contempt.
Despite a request from the judge to clarify his position, Mr Burke continued his submissions.
His mother Martina repeatedly interjected that Judge Whelan’s appointment "stinks to high heaven" until the judge rose and ordered that Ms Burke be removed from the court. Mr Burke’s sister Ammi was also removed from court and his father Sean also left the courtroom.
Mr Burke himself was removed after he refused to stop making the submissions which the judge said had no relevance to the issue before the court.
Asked again, if he would purge his contempt, he told the judge that he was telling him there was no way out of jail unless he gave up his Christian belief in male and female. He said "no sane person would do that".
He was applauded by one or two people as he was taken out of court. Finally his brother Isaac was also removed from the courtroom.
Mr Burke told the court every citizen was entitled to express their religious belief to the fullest extent. And he said, he would be reinstated in his classroom in accordance with the law.
The judge awarded the costs of the hearing to the school.
