ENOCH BURKE’S SALARY is to be paid to Wilson’s Hospital School as he still owes them €15,000 in damages, a court has ordered.
Burke appeared before the High Court via video link from Mountjoy Prison where he has been since Tuesday, after Justice Brian Cregan ordered him to be jailed for “repeated and flagrant” breaches of court orders on 18 November.
Burke and his family, who are evangelical Christians from Co Mayo, are embroiled in a lengthy legal row with Wilson’s Hospital School, where Burke formerly worked as a teacher.
Burke has been jailed for contempt of court multiple times for breaching an injunction that requires him to stay away from the school, following his dismissal for gross misconduct after he interrupted a religious service and confronted the school’s principal.
Burke allegedly interrupted the church service to express his opposition to a directive that teachers address a student who was transitioning by a new name and pronouns.
The court heard that although Burke has been dismissed from the school, he is still being paid a teacher’s salary from the Department of Education and Youth, pending an appeal before the Disciplinary Appeals Panel.
In August 2023, the school was awarded damages of €15,000 for trespass on their grounds, but today, Cregan said Burke had “not paid a single euro of this judgment”.
He granted the school a garnishee order, where a debtor’s salary is paid directly to the person owed, on the grounds Burke “owes a considerable debt to the school”.
But the hearing at the Four Court in Dublin was disrupted by Enoch Burke’s father, Sean, and brother, Dr Isaac Burke, before it even began.
Burke was due to appear by video link, but technical difficulties meant his appearance was delayed.
As the delay continued, Dr Burke remonstrated with the judge saying that as Enoch Burke was not appearing in person, he had “no advocate” in court and “no one to hand up documents”.
Cregan told him he “did not intend” to allow him, or his father, to remain in court and asked them both to leave saying they had “no right of audience”.
Telling them: “Every time you have appeared before me, you have disrupted the court.”
Dr Burke began to shout that this was “absolutely disgraceful”, “shocking” and “unjust behaviour”.
Five uniformed gardaí entered the court and two escorted Dr Burke out of the room.
Burke senior then, too, began shouting, saying: “I’m a member of the public, I have a right to be here”, adding: ”This is totally unjust, this is totally wrong, this is absolutely wrong”.
He, too, was led away from the court as Justice Creagan rose and adjourned the hearing.
With reporting from Shane Raymond and Stephen McDermott.
