Wilson’s Hospital School in Co Westmeath has asked the High Court for orders that could see teacher Enoch Burke jailed for the third time for contempt of court.
During Wednesday’s vacation sitting of the court the school’s board of management, represented by Rosemary Mallon BL secured permission to bring a motion seeking the Co Mayo teacher’s attachment and possible committal to prison arising out of his alleged failure to comply with a permanent injunction to stay away from the school.
The school, in what are prolonged and high-profile legal proceedings, has made its latest application after the teacher, who is appealing a decision to dismiss him from his job, started attending in the grounds of the school in recent days while students and staff returned in preparation for the new school year.
Counsel said that since last Thursday, August 22nd, the school’s board has become most anxious after Mr Burke started attending at the school, in breach of the terms of the injunction that prevents him from trespassing at the facility.
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The school was particularly concerned over an alleged incident where it is claimed Mr Burke entered a room in the school’s main building where teachers were holding a staff meeting in respect of the school’s transition year class.
The school is concerned as it was “difficult to monitor” Mr Burke when he was on the campus, counsel said.
Counsel said another concern was that other third parties have started attending outside the school in relation to the continuing situation with Mr Burke.
The matter came before Mr Justice Barry O’Donnell who on an ex parte basis granted the school permission to serve short notice of the attachment and committal proceedings on Mr Burke.
The matter will return before the court on Friday.
The German and History teacher was released from Mountjoy Prison, where he has spent over 400 days in two different stints, in late June without purging his contempt.
However, he was warned at the time by Mr Justice Mark Sanfey that the courts would have “no hesitation” in sending him back to prison if he were again found to have breached the court order.
The Evangelical Christian teacher has been in an ongoing legal dispute with Wilson’s Hospital School over what he claims was his refusal in 2022 to comply with the school’s direction to call a then student by a different name and use the pronoun “they”.
Throughout this legal battle Mr Burke has claimed he has been imprisoned because he was being punished for his religious beliefs and his opposition to “transgenderism”.
The teacher denies all claims of wrongdoing against him and says his constitutional rights were breached by the school’s direction to refer to a student by a different gender.
Mr Burke was last jailed in early September 2023 over his refusal to comply with the permanent injunction, made the previous May by Mr Justice Alex Owens.
He did not appeal that order to the Court of Appeal but did make an application earlier this year to the High Court seeking to set aside the injunction on the grounds that it was flawed and unconstitutional.
That application was dismissed by the High Court.
During his first stint behind bars, he spent more than 100 days in Mountjoy between September and December 2022.
Following his suspension from his teaching position in August 2022 Mr Burke was sued by the school over his failure to comply with a previous court order which also required him to stay away from the school while he was suspended from his job.
He was released in December 2022 without purging his contempt.
He again started attending at the school after the Christmas holidays, and the High Court imposed a daily fine of €700 on Mr Burke.
However, arising out of his failure to stay away from the school when the 2023-24 school year commenced and considering Mr Justice Owens’s order, Mr Burke was again jailed for contempt.
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