Teacher Enoch Burke, who has been in prison for more than 500 days in total, has been released from prison for Christmas, but has been warned that the daily fine accruing if he continues to show up at Wilson’s Hospital School will double to €1,400 per day.
Mr Justice David Nolan released Mr Burke who has been in jail since 2 September for contempt of court, having been returned to prison after attending the school again after the summer holidays.
The Mayo teacher and his family said he is “out but not a free man” since he continues to have a “threat hanging over his head”, and that this was a “terrible situation”.
Mr Burke’s brother said that he had been in jail because of his religious beliefs and that he had done “nothing wrong” – adding that he believed that Mr Burke had been released because of “public pressure”.
Enoch Burke said that the case since August 2022 was “simply about transgenderism” and that he was “told to use the ‘they’ pronoun”, something he said would put poison “into a child’s mind” and “destroy them”.
However, the judge said the teacher was in jail “because he chooses to be” – and that Mr Burke was in jail because he had not obeyed the law of the land.
The court directed government representatives to attend court in January to explain how they intended to collect some €193,000 owed by Mr Burke in fines thus far – fines accrued when he continued to attend the school despite the court order instructing him to stay away.
Mr Burke is pursuing an appeal against his sacking from Wilson’s Hospital School and continues to be paid his full salary as a teacher.
Judge Nolan used the parable of the talents – Matthew chapter 25:14-30 – to illustrate his belief that Mr Burke was engaging in a “terrible waste” of his life, adding: “It is clear to me that he has been persuaded by others that he is best seen as a martyr,” he said.
The judge put the matter in again for mention next month.