Despite heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures, suspended teacher Enoch Burke didn’t miss the return to school after the Christmas break, showing up at Wilson’s Hospital School on Monday morning. The German and History teacher, who has been repeatedly jailed for refusing to stay away from the Church of Ireland school in County Westmeath, denied that he was protesting at the school, insisting, “I am reporting for work.”
Mr Burke was suspended in August 2022 after a row took place when Mr Burke said he would refuse to call a student by gender neutral pronouns. In May 2023, the High Court ruled that the teacher’s suspension from the school was valid. Mr Justice Alexander Owens ruled that, due to Mr Burke’s behaviour at a school board of management meeting, it was “rational and reasonable” for it to expect him to engage in further harmful or disruptive conduct.
Enoch Burke has spent over 500 days in jail since August 2022. He was released again before Christmas when the school broke for the Christmas break.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Mr Burke described the situation as “horrific” but said that he had been welcomed by students at the school. Braving sub-zero temperatures, Mr Burke was driven to the school, arriving at 9:15am and remaining until the close of the school day at 3:45pm.
“I want to just emphasise that I am here today to work. I really want to make that absolutely clear. I come here to my place of work, Wilson’s Hospital School, to do my job and to do my work. To do my job as a teacher of German and History,” he said.
“This is my workplace, Wilson’s Hospital School. I’m in my seventh year of teaching here. I came back here today.
“I was welcomed by students knocking on the windows, waving from the classrooms and showing their support. This is my job – I’m just a teacher at the school. This could all be over today, all of this horrific situation – and it is a horrific situation – it could be over today if the judges did what they should have done,” he said.
“I was told to do something wrong, to call a young boy by the they pronoun.”
The fiasco “could be over today,” Mr Burke repeated.
“There’s only one reason I’m outside the door, pushed out in the cold, and it’s because I said I would not accept transgenderism,” Mr Burke insisted. “The judges have failed me.”
He also insisted that he is paid as a staff member at the school “to uphold the [school’s] ethos.”
“That’s a Christian ethos,” Mr Burke added.
Mr Burke braved sub-zero temperatures and was visibly shaking from the cold in a video message posted to X.
“I want to make this absolutely clear,” he said. “I have come here to do my job. The point here now is an issue of right or wrong, the way I live my life is not about who supports me.
“I should be in a classroom today, in a heated classroom doing the job I love and teaching the children I love. There’s only one reason I was pushed out into the cold and it’s because I said I would not accept transgenderism. It’s not the first day I have been out in the cold. I am not protesting, I am reporting for work.”
Mr Burke now owes over €193,000 in fines for continually being in contempt of court by showing up to the workplace from which he is suspended. He continues to be paid his full salary as a teacher, pending the outcome of a disciplinary appeal over his sacking.
Mr Burke was greeted by protestors who had organised a “special event” to show support to the teacher. Around 20 participants held signs which read: “Enoch is not a criminal. He is a Christian and a teacher” and “Please drop all charges against Enoch Burke”.
In December, the High Court heard that the coercive imprisonment of Mr Burke should stop, but said that the school could return to court to seek Burke’s return to prison “or any other appropriate measure” if Mr Burke did not comply with the court order.
The case is listed for mention in the High Court this month, after judge Mr Justice David Nolan sought details of how it is intended the fines, totalling almost €200,000, will be recovered. The daily fine imposed on Mr Burke was doubled from €700 to €1400 when the teacher was released from prison in December.