TWO MEMBERS OF a disciplinary body deciding on whether Enoch Burke was fairly dismissed from Wilson’s Hospital School have resigned, the High Court has heard.
A judge today allowed Burke’s case for injunction against the Disciplinary Appeals Panel (DAP) to continue despite the resignations, saying that it did not materially affect his case against the body.
Burke told the court today that the DAP was “a shambles” because of the resignations, adding that its members were now able to avoid questioned he raised about a panel hearing into his dismissal last December.
Earlier this month, the teacher applied for a temporary injunction against the three-member Disciplinary Appeals Panel (DAP) tasked with reviewing his dismissal from the school.
Judge Brian Cregan temporarily released Burke from prison to prepare for the case, saying that the issues he had raised with the DAP process were “credible”.
Burke was dismissed from his teaching position in 2023 for gross misconduct following a series of incidents, including interrupting a religious service and confronting the school’s then-principal.
He has argued that he is being persecuted for his religious opposition to a request by the school to address a transgender pupil by their preferred pronouns.
He maintains that he was unlawfully dismissed and has argued that he was entitled to attend at the school as his place of work, despite court orders barring him from the grounds.
Burke has appealed against his dismissal in numerous courts and to the DAP, and is currently in jail for the fifth time for breaching a High Court order to stay away from the grounds of Wilson’s Hospital School while his case is decided by the panel.
In the High Court this morning, counsel for the three DAP members Padraic Lyons said that two of the members had resigned after Burke’s legal action against them.
Burke filed papers on 6 January seeking an injunction preventing the panel from holding any more meetings, claiming that its most recent meeting in December damaged his prospects of winning his appeal.
He has argued against the inclusion of one panel member, claiming in an affidavit submitted as part of the case that she is “objectively biased”.
The teacher has argued that the member is not suitable to decide on his case because she was vice-president of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) when advice was given to schools to “use the pronoun that a [transgender] child wishes to be used”.
The panel temporarily agreed last month not to meet again as it wished to respond to the allegations contained within Burke’s affidavit.
Lyons said the two resignations, which did not include that of the ASTI member, would potentially avoid a “protracted legal challenge” and therefore expedite the process whereby the DAP could determine Burke’s appeal against his dismissal.
He therefore called for the injunction application to be dismissed because the issues raised were “moot”.
“The course of action that has been taken is one that will clear the way, as it were, for a new panel to be nominated, and thereby allow Mr Burke’s appeal to be heard sooner rather than later,” Lyons told the court.
However, Burke – who appeared in court via video link – said the DAP was “a shambles” and that there “is something rotten” at the heart of its process.
He said its members were now “skipping off” the questions he raised that he felt should have been answered about the latest hearing of his case in December.
“The DAP is supposed to be the pinnacle of fairness and impartiality, composed of arbiters of long experience,” he said.
Burke also claimed that his case against Wilson’s Hospital School was further supported by an Irish Times article published on 22 January, which reported that the Department of Education had not issued guidelines on whether students have a legal right for schools to use their preferred pronouns.
The department responded to previous reports that the Irish Council for Civil Liberties issued a guide, citing “Department of Education guidelines”, that schools are legally obliged to use the preferred pronouns of transgender pupils.
Burke also said he would now be appealing a 2023 ruling by another High Court judge, Alexander Owens, restraining him from attending the grounds of the school.
Judge Brian Cregan said this morning that the resignations of the two panel members did not deal with Burke’s arguments in his application for an injunction against the DAP.
“Mr Burke is entitled, if he so wishes […] to make the argument that he wants to press his objection against the second named defendant [the ASTI member] on the grounds of objective bias,” Cregan said.
“I don’t see how this particular injunction is rendered moot by the resignation simply of two members.”
He adjourned the case until Friday 20 February, and said he would make an order that would allow Burke to attend the hearing in person on that date.
