Secondary school teacher Enoch Burke has failed in his bid to be released from Mountjoy Prison this evening after arguing that the disciplinary proceedings brought against him by the school were unlawful and unconstitutional.
Mr Burke has been in prison since last week for breaching an injunction preventing him from attending or attempting to teach at Wilson's Hospital School in Multyfarnham, Co Westmeath.
The High Court adjourned a new legal action taken by Mr Burke today until Wednesday.
The dispute with the school began when staff were asked to refer to a student who wanted to transition with the they/them pronouns, which led to Mr Burke publicly confronting the principal and voicing his opposition at a public event.
The school board put him on paid administrative leave pending a disciplinary process over his "outburst" but Mr Burke continued to attend the premises leading the school to get a court injunction preventing him from doing so.
Mr Burke, who represented himself with the help of his brother Issac, asked the court for injunctions halting the schools' disciplinary process which he said is "unconstitutional and unlawful".
He said the decision to put him on paid leave was "unreasonable, unfair, unjust and unlawful" and said it would be "unconscionable" to allow a disciplinary hearing to proceed in Mullingar on Wednesday, 14 September, or any other date.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Barrister Rosemary Mallon, acting for the school, told the court that after Mr Burke had very clearly indicated last week that he would not be purging his contempt it was decided not to go ahead with the disciplinary meeting scheduled for Wednesday.
She said if Mr Burke had contacted the school's solicitors, he would have known the hearing was not going ahead.
She said there was "no need for the urgency we were all brought to the court today".
She said Mr Burke would be given notice of any hearing taking place.
Mr Justice Conor Dignam said it was not necessary for him to grant three of the injunctions sought by Mr Burke to prevent a disciplinary hearing because at the outset today, the school said the scheduled hearing was not going ahead.
He adjourned Mr Burke's application for an injunction preventing him from being put on administrative leave or continuing to be on administrative leave.
The matter will come before the court again on Wednesday at 2pm.
