Irish teacher Enoch Burke, who was jailed for a third time in September after he was involved in a transgender row over him refusing to ‘call a boy a girl’, has been released from prison after his punishment was deemed to be ineffective.
The Evangelical Christian had been jailed for contempt of court in September after defying a High Court injunction banning him from the grounds of Wilson’s Hospital School in County Westmeath, Ireland.
But Mr Burke has now been released after Justice David Nolan ruled that jailing him for contempt did not have the ‘coercive effect desired’, the Irish Independent reports.
Instead of imprisonment, Mr Burke will now receive a daily fine of €1,400 (£1,100) for each day he defies the order to stay away from the school grounds.
A similar €700 (£550) daily fine imposed on Mr Burke last year proved ineffective, as the teacher never paid the fines and lawyers for the school voiced concerns that there was no mechanism to collect the unpaid fines amounting to €193,000.
The judge said if Mr Burke breaches the injunction again once the school reopens in January, the Attorney General and the Department of Finance should come before the court to determine a mechanism to use his salary to directly pay the fine.
Mr Burke became caught up in a transgender row in May 2022, when he told his headteacher that he ‘opposed transgenderism’ due to his religious beliefs.
He stated that he would not address a student, who was transitioning, by their new name and with ‘they’ pronouns and publicly criticised the school’s ‘demand’ that he use the student’s chosen pronouns.
Mr Burke leaves court in June 2024 with members of his family after his release from prison
Mr Burke was seen engaging in a lengthy conversation with gardai outside the school gates before he was arrested in September
Former History and German teacher Enoch Burke seen outside Wilson’s Hospital School in January 2023, violating their court order to stay away
During the chaotic hearing this morning, Mr Burke repeatedly talked over Justice David Nolan, who urged him to use the Christmas period to ‘reflect on his fruitless campaign’.
When deciding whether to keep Mr Burke in prison, Mr Justice Nolan said he had to consider the burden on the taxpayer, who is footing the bill to keep Mr Burke in jail at a cost of €84,000 a year, according to the Irish Times.
The taxpayer is also still paying Mr Burke’s salary of more than €70,000 while he appeals his dismissal from the school.
‘It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Mr Burke is exploiting his imprisonment for his own ends,’ the judge reportedly said.
He added that Mr Burke’s actions indicate that he sees his continued imprisonment as an advantage.
The judge, who said Mr Burke repeatedly came to court to make ‘misguided and ridiculous arguments’, said at the hearing: ‘It is clear to me he is being persuaded by others that he is best seen as a martyr.’
Mr Burke – who had only been released from prison in June – was sacked from the school for gross misconduct in January 2023.
He was first jailed in September 2022 and spent 100 days in prison before his release.
He was jailed for a second time in September 2023 in which he spent Christmas behind bars before he was released in June this year. He spent a total of 512 days in prison.
Mr Burke is appealing his dismissal from the school. Despite his dismissal, a court heard in February he was still being paid his salary pending his appeal against the school’s decision to sack him.
At that time, he had been paid around €72,000 while still on administrative leave.
Mr Burke pictured at Wilson’s Hospital School gate in 2023. He has repeatedly defied a High Court injunction banning him from the school’s grounds
Irish teacher Enoch Burke has been jailed for a third time after he was arrested outside the school that sacked him for refusing to ‘call a boy a girl’. (Mr Burke pictured here arriving at the court of appeal in Dublin in February 2023)
Enoch Burke’s mother, father, sister and brother seen protesting outside Ballinrobe Community School in November on the day it was being visited by Norma Foley, the Minister for Education
Justice Michael Quinn said after jailing Mr Burke in September that there was an ‘urgent requirement’ for him to deal with the difficulties Wilson’s Hospital School has been experiencing, due to Mr Burke’s continued presence there.
He said Mr Burke was disrupting day-to-day activities and duties performed by teachers and staff in the school.
The history and German teacher refused to give a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer when asked if he intended to return to the Westmeath school again.
As the order was passed, Mr Burke told Justice Quinn: ‘You will answer to God for imprisoning me for my religious beliefs.’
During the September hearing, he and his family protested that the many judges who have dealt with the case had failed to deal with a report made by the then school principal Niamh McShane.
Mr Burke said Ms McShane had claimed he was guilty of gross misconduct due to his refusal to call a transitioning student by a new name and the pronoun ‘they’. He said the legality of that demand was never considered by the court.
However, last year, Judge Owens found the school was right to suspend Mr Burke over fears of ‘harmful and disruptive conduct’.
He cited Mr Burke’s challenge to the principal during a staff meeting, a chapel service and at a dinner.
Enoch Burke being removed by Gardaí on January 25 2023 after following a bus through school gates
Wilson’s Hospital School in County Westmeath, Ireland. The former teacher took issue with the former headteacher asking staff to refer to a transgender student by their new name and pronouns
Mr Burke insisted after he was jailed in September: ‘This court is simply denying me my religious beliefs, and my right to my religious beliefs. I am a Christian. I have Christian beliefs. My belief is male and female, God made them male and female.’
He quoted passages from the Bible, including Genesis and the Gospel of Matthew, and claimed teachers in Ireland were being ‘commanded to force transgenderism on students’.
He said this was a ‘hellish ideology’ which resulted in children taking puberty blockers and being ‘scarred for life’.
He said his religious beliefs would not lead children ‘down the road of suicide, mutilations, regret’ and a breakdown of relationships with their parents.
‘I did not force my beliefs on anyone,’ he said. ‘That belief was forced on me. I was commanded to feed that poison to young people in my care.’