Transgender-Rejecting Irish Teacher Jailed for Returning to School Despite Court Order

An Irish High Court judge on Monday ordered teacher Enoch Burke returned to Mountjoy Prison for contempt after he repeatedly appeared at Wilson’s Hospital School gates, violating court orders barring him from the premises.

Since 2022, history and German language teacher Burke has battled the school over requirements he use “they” to refer to a transgender student. A fundamentalist Christian, Burke says such a demand violates his religious conscience.

He was arrested by gardaí (police) outside the school in Multyfarnham, County Westmeath, early Monday after showing up for a third consecutive day. He was brought before Justice Brian Cregan at the High Court in Dublin, who found him in “flagrant breach” of prior directions and ordered his immediate imprisonment.

“You have been dismissed, it is not your place of work,” the judge told Burke. “What part of that sentence do you not understand? Who on Earth turns up where they’ve been dismissed?”

Although let go from the school three years ago, Burke has been kept on the payroll by Ireland’s Department of Education pending the outcome of his employment appeal.

Monday’s ruling marks at least the fifth time Burke has been imprisoned in the long-running dispute. He had been released last Wednesday to prepare a separate legal challenge to a disciplinary appeals panel reviewing his 2023 termination and ordered to stay away from the school. He returned to the gates the following day and again on Friday, prompting the school to ask for court intervention.

Before Monday’s arrest, Burke addressed a video audience outside the school, saying: “You can silence me, but my conscience will bring me back to this gate, because I have a right to be here. I have a right to teach German here in this school. I did my job well.”

He added: “People should know that from beginning to end, this is all about transgender ideology, forcing it upon every school in the country, not just this school, every school in the country, and the public at large, saying you will accept this.”

As he was taken into custody, Burke stated: “You’re being told you can’t have your religious belief. You can’t have your Christian convictions. You must bow to this. You must accept it. Everybody’s silenced into submission.”

The case stems from August 2022, when Burke, who taught German at the Church of Ireland-affiliated boarding school, objected to its policy on addressing a transgender student, including during a school worship service. He was suspended with pay and directed to stay away from the property.

The High Court—which handles civil and criminal matters but is not equivalent to the Supreme Court of the United States—granted the school an injunction the following month, restraining Burke from attending while the matter was pending. He continued to appear, leading to contempt proceedings and initial imprisonment. Even after his dismissal in 2023, he persisted, resulting in further orders and jail terms.

Burke has appealed his firing and is challenging the composition of the disciplinary panel. He claims a right to return to what he calls his “place of work.”

According to reports, Burke has spent more than 560 days in custody over the past three years and has been fined more than 225,000 euros ($262,000) for daily contempt penalties.

Wilson’s Hospital School, founded in 1761 and located about 57 miles northwest of Dublin, is a co-educational voluntary secondary school in the free education system since 2011, meaning no tuition fees are charged.

It does charge for boarding and other services, which can run to as much as 19,950 euros ($23,262) per year. The school has emphasized its commitment to an inclusive environment.

The case has thrust the 455-student institution into an unwanted spotlight. The school has had to hire private security and call local police when Burke shows up at the gate.

Principal Noel Cunningham told Ireland’s Sunday Independent newspaper that the school doesn’t “want anyone feeling sorry for us,” and says he does not communicate with Burke.

Cunningham told the newspaper he wanted the school defined for its work, and not the Burke controversy.

“We were a friendly school, a happy school, a welcoming community school, that’s what Wilson’s Hospital School is,” he said.

However, the newspaper report provoked some controversy at the Monday hearing. Barrister Rosemary Mallon, representing the school, read a sworn statement from Cunningham in which the principal apologized to the court for giving the interview, which he said he undertook without approval from the school’s management board.

In the statement, Cunningham acknowledged it was “inappropriate” to comment in the media regarding ongoing litigation. He said he spoke to the national newspaper in what he called a “misguided” effort to burnish the school’s image.

Burke told the court that Cunningham’s interview presented Wilson’s Hospital School as a serene place and not the center of controversy that school attorneys described to Justice Cregan at the hearing.

Neither the school nor Burke immediately responded to requests for comment from The Epoch Times.