ENOCH BURKE HAS been transferred from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin to Castlerea Prison in Co Roscommon.
The move has been described as “scandalous” by his family.
On 19 January, the High Court ordered that Burke be returned to Mountjoy Prison for a fifth time for repeatedly breaching a court order instructing him not to trespass at Wilson’s Hospital School in Co Westmeath.
Burke was recently moved to a different part of Mountjoy Prison and it’s understood this was due disobeying orders while on a court visit.
However, he was yesterday moved to a different prison entirely.
In a statement on social media, Isaac Burke, brother Enoch, said that Enoch has been “told to gather his belongings and bring them to a prison van” at around 9.30am yesterday.
Isaac claimed Enoch was given no “warning or notice” and wasn’t informed of where he was going to or why.
“He was then brought to a different location, and when he arrived, he was told he was at Castlerea prison,” said Isaac.
He described it as a “scandalous situation” and added that “it’s a stain on our country that he’s in prison at all”.
Issac today raised the issue this afternoon in the High Court with Judge Brian Cregan.
Issac said he stated that “Enoch was committed to Mountjoy Prison on 19 January, and that order specifically stated that he was to be detained in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin until further order of the High Court”.
He added: “There’s been no further order of the High Court, so what we have here is a situation where a man is detained in Castlerea prison, without lawful authority, without any basis for that which is an extremely serious matter.
“This afternoon, I appeared before Judge Brian Cregan in Dublin, and I laid out these facts.
“I said to him, ‘you must direct that this is wrong’.
“He shouldn’t be in prison, but at the very least he should be where the court has directed him to be.
“This is a scandal that Enoch is simply thrown into another cell on the other end of the country, and we have a high court judge whose own order has been breached.”
In a statement to The Journal, the Irish Prison Service said that it does not comment on operational matters.
Enoch Burke was initially suspended from his role at the school in 2022.
Wilson’s Hospital School alleges he interrupted a religious service in its chapel in June of that year.
Burke claims the school principal had made a “demand” that staff accept what he describes as “transgenderism” and that it was against his beliefs.
