The High Court has directed a secondary school in Co Westmeath to set out in a sworn document all the occasions on which teacher Enoch Burke has breached a court order by attending at the school.
Mr Justice Brian O'Moore had listed the case before him this morning to review the situation after imposing a €700 daily fine on Mr Burke at the end of January for continuing to breach an injunction imposed last September ordering him not to trespass at Wilson's Hospital School where he taught.
Mr Burke was suspended from his teaching position in August after a dispute with the then principal about a request by a pupil to use a new name and they/them pronouns.
Mr Burke said this was against his religious beliefs. He was dismissed by the school on 20 January, but he is appealing that decision.
Mr Burke was not in court when the matter was first called. The judge rose and allowed another five minutes but Mr Burke had still not arrived by 10.10am.
Mr Justice O’Moore told lawyers for the school he wanted to know if Mr Burke was currently refusing to comply with the High Court order granted by Mr Justice Max Barratt in September.
And he said he wanted the school to set out each occasion on which Mr Burke had been in default of that order.
He told Senior Counsel Alex White he was interested in the current of state of play and wanted to know if Mr Burke had turned up at the school yesterday and whether or not he had entered the premises.
The school must provide this affidavit by 5pm tomorrow and Mr Burke will have until Friday to submit a reply.
The judge had also signalled he would be reviewing the costs of the ongoing, lengthy proceedings.
He asked the school to prepare a three page document outlining what order the school said he should make in relation to costs. Again, Mr Burke has until Friday to submit his response.
Mr Justice O'Moore told Mr White that he was "sorry" there had been no appearance on behalf of the Burkes.
After the judge rose from the bench, Mr Burke, his sister Ammi, brother Simeon, mother Martina, and father Sean appeared at the back of the court at around 10.12am.
They spent some time talking to the court registrar before leaving.
Martina Burke said they had a "four hour journey" from Mayo "asking for our rights", as she left court.
Mr Justice O'Moore imposed a daily fine of €700 just over a month ago, to continue as long as Mr Burke continues to defy the injunction.
That fine now stands at just over €23,000.
