Enoch Burke will remain in prison for at least another three weeks, after again failing to give an undertaking to the High Court that he would stop trespassing at the school he used to work in if he was released.
The court heard that the Department of Education stopped paying a salary to Mr Burke on 28 May, after his dismissal from Wilson's Hospital School was confirmed, following the conclusion of the appeals process.
Mr Burke who appeared before the High Court via video link from Castlerea Prison, was asked by Mr Justice Brian Cregan on three occasions if he would give an undertaking to stay away from the school, telling him that he would be released from prison today if he gave the undertaking but that otherwise, he would have to remain in prison "for the time being".
Mr Burke has spent almost 700 days in prison since September 2022 for breaching court orders to stay away from the school.
Mr Burke told Judge Cregan his suspension from the school in 2022 was "manifestly unlawful" and he would never accept that his Christian beliefs could be set forward as "gross misconduct" warranting his dismissal from the school.
He said there was no legal basis in this jurisdiction for instructing someone to refer to a person by a new name and pronoun and he maintained this was not a legitimate instruction from the then-principal.
Mr Burke was suspended from his job as a German and History teacher in Wilson’s Hospital School in late August 2022, after objecting at staff meetings and in public to using "they" pronouns for a student.
He raised the matter publicly at the end of a church service celebrating the school’s anniversary in June 2022, and pursued it with the then-principal at a dinner afterwards.
Despite his suspension, Mr Burke continued to attend at the school and his attendance continued despite court injunctions and his subsequent dismissal by the school in January 2023.
Mr Burke appealed his dismissal and three separate Disciplinary Appeals Panels (DAP) were convened to hear his appeal. The last such appeal, in April this year, ended in chaos.
The DAP said Mr Burke and members of his family were so disruptive it could not carry out its functions. It issued a written opinion that Mr Burke had not made out grounds for the review of the school’s disciplinary action against him and the school confirmed its decision to dismiss him last month.
Mr Burke complained that the chairwoman of the DAP, solicitor Claire Callanan, had a "serious conflict of interest" because she also chaired the disciplinary panel of the Church of Ireland and Wilson’s Hospital School was a Church of Ireland School.
He also complained that her husband, Senior Counsel Lyndon McCann, held a number of senior roles in the church.
The High Court ruled in May 2023 that the school’s original decision to dismiss him was lawful and granted a permanent injunction to stop him trespassing on the grounds.
Mr Burke did not appeal that decision within the time limit and the Court of Appeal recently rejected his attempt to get an extension of time to appeal it.
Mr Burke refused to confirm to the court today whether or not he intended to take a further legal challenge to the decision of the DAP or if he intended to appeal the Court of Appeal’s judgment to the Supreme Court.
The High Court ruled in late January 2023 that Mr Burke should pay a daily fine of €700 for contempt of court. This was doubled and further increased last year.
A receiver was appointed to Mr Burke’s salary from the Department of Education which was used to pay his fines for contempt.
This morning, Mr Justice Cregan asked the school to set out in a sworn document all the days Mr Burke had trespassed at the school and the fines he had incurred as a result.
He also asked the school to set out the amount of money it had received as a result of orders attached to Mr Burke’s bank account.
The judge asked the receiver to set out the total amount of fines owed by Mr Burke, the total amount received and the amount outstanding.
He also asked the Department of Education to prepare an affidavit setting out when Mr Burke ceased to be on the department’s payroll.
The judge said he wanted to be aware of the total amount of money owed by Mr Burke so the court could manage its orders.
Judge Cregan, who had ordered Mr Burke to be muted on a couple of occasions during the hearing, unmuted him to ask him if he had anything to say about the matter.
Mr Burke accused him of "coaching" the lawyers and he said there was no fine for refusing to use the "they" pronoun in this country.
Mr Justice Cregan told Mr Burke: "You keep arguing this point, but you never actually make it in a court of law."
The case will be back in the High Court on 24 June.
