School teacher Enoch Burke has lost a High Court action aimed at setting aside the order of May 2023 requiring him to stay away from Wilson's Hospital School.
Mr Justice Mark Sanfey said it was not open to Mr Burke "to pick and choose" which orders of the court he would comply with and that he was required to do no more than any other litigant - obey the orders of the court.
Mr Burke was released from prison late last month having been jailed last September for contempt of court.
His release was ordered after the school had closed for the summer holidays.
He had challenged the original order of May 2023 by Mr Justice Alex Owens who granted Wilson's Hospital a permanent injunction restraining Mr Burke from attending the school.
Mr Burke argued that that the judge had disregarded his constitutional rights of freedom of conscience along with the free profession and practice of religion when he refused to comply with the school's direction to call a then student by a different name and use the pronoun "they".
Lawyers for the board of Wilson's Hospital had argued there was no jurisdiction for one High Court judge to review or set aside a decision of another.
They argued that Judge Sanfey find Mr Burke had no plausible explanation as to why he exercised his right to appeal the High Court order.
In a judgment today, the judge said the sole issue before him was whether or not the court had jurisdiction to entertain the application by Mr Burke to set aside the judgement of Judge Owens.
He said Mr Burke's application "fell so far short of the 'truly exceptional' circumstances in which the court might entertain an application to set aside a final order".
He said the characterisation of the application by lawyers for the school as an abuse of process was justified.
Judge Sanfey said that Mr Burke had claimed that two years of his life had been taken from him.
He said he had released Mr Burke from prison on 28 June last, reminding him that the order of Judge Owens remains valid and he must comply with it.
The judge added that it was necessary to be clear that Judge Owens had ordered that Mr Burke be restrained from entering or trespassing at Wilson's Hospital School and it was for a repeated breach of this order, and for no other reason, that Mr Burke had been imprisoned.
Judge Sanfey added: "Mr Burke thinks that the order is made in breach of his constitutional rights.
"However, it is a valid order of this court and Mr Burke will comply with it or face the consequences."
He said it was not open to Mr Burke to conclude unilaterally that the order of the court breaches his rights and is thus void from the outset and that he did not have to comply with it.
Dismissing the application, the judge said that the school would be entitled to its costs but he would accept written submissions on costs before finalising his orders.
