Burke out as schools shut for holidays
Transgender row teacher freed
A HIGH Court judge has ordered the release of transgender row teacher Enoch Burke from Mountjoy Prison.
Mr Justice Mark Sanfey directed he should be be freed from the jail where he has been held since September over his refusal to stay away from Wilson’s Hospital School, Co Westmeath.
He said following a review and the fact state exams are now completed and the school is on holidays, he was directing the teacher’s release.
The court did not require Mr Burke to purge his contempt and his agreement to comply with the terms of an order made against him last year.
In that decision Mr
Justice Alexander Owens granted the school an injunction restraining him from attending the campus.
Mr Burke was jailed for contempt, for a second time, last September due to his refusal to comply.
Overall the teacher has spent over 400 days in prison.
Mr Justice Sanfey urged him to use the time to reflect and warned him the injunction remains in place.
If there was any further breaches, he said he would have “no hesitation” in entertaining a fresh application by the school to have Mr Burke sent to jail.
After the hearing he left the Four Courts with his family.
Mr Burke had appeared before the Court as part of his bid to set aside what he claims is the “gravely flawed” and unconstitutional” order by Mr
Justice Owens which underpinned his incarceration.
The judge heard submissions from the teacher and the school over whether the court has the jurisdiction to entertain an application by the teacher to have a judgment by Mr Justice Owens set aside.
After what were at times heated interactions between the judge and Mr Burke, Mr Justice Sanfey reserved his judgement and said that he would give his decision in the coming weeks.
Mr Burke denied being in contempt of court and said he was wrongfully imprisoned because of his objections to “trangenderism” after a direction by the school to refer to a then student by a different pronoun.
He argued Mr Justice Owens disregarded his constitutional rights of freedom of conscience and the free profession and practice of religion when he ignored the school’s direction.
This resulted in the proceedings, which Mr Burke said had resulted in him losing two years of his life.
Nowhere could it be found in Mr Justice Owens judgement that Mr Burke’s constitutional rights had been taken into consideration, which they ought to have been, the teacher added.
This was a serious matter, Mr Burke said, who accepted he did not appeal Mr Justice Owen’s decision to the Court of Appeal.
In reply Alex White SC for the school said Mr Burke’s application amounted to a “gross abuse of the court”, was “unsustainable” and is “bound to fail”.