Stephen McDermott

THREE MEMBERS OF the Burke family have been banned from attending High Court cases involving Enoch Burke in person for repeatedly interrupting courtroom proceedings.

Judge Brian Cregan made the ruling in relation to Isaac, Ammi and Martina Burke in a judgment this morning.

The ruling affects any High Court cases “directly or indirectly” involving Enoch Burke and his dismissal by Wilson’s Hospital School.

They include cases involving the school, the Disciplinary Appeals Panel (DAP) that upheld a decision to dismiss him, the Minister for Education and the Disciplinary Panel of the Teaching Council.

The Burkes will still be allowed to dial into court hearings remotely, but Judge Cregan said that if they breach the prohibition by attending hearings in person, it will be considered contempt of court.

The judge issued the ruling after a series of interruptions during the teacher’s cases involving Enoch Burke and Wilson’s Hospital that have been heard since the end of last year.

Those hearings were initially brought by Wilson’s Hospital School last autumn, after Enoch Burke continued to defy a court injunction to stay away from the school’s grounds.

It also involved cases brought by Enoch Burke against members of the DAP, a panel that met to consider whether his dismissal by the school was fair.

Judge Cregan said that Enoch Burke’s brother Isaac, his sister Ammi and his mother Martina had “behaved disgracefully” by interrupting, refusing to stay quiet, shouting “at the court and their opponents” and refusing to leave courtrooms when asked.

He also said that other members of the Burke family, including father Sean, brother Simeon, and sister Jemima, had occasionally interrupted proceedings as well, describing this as “co-ordinated and concerted”.

“If one member of the Burke family is unable to attend, other members of the Burke family take their place and instead of listening to what is happening to the proceedings, they seek to interject themselves in the proceedings and to cause disruption,” he said.

The judge said this had resulted in the court having to request gardaí to remove Isaac, Martina and Ammi Burke, and that he has had to speak to Sean, Simeon and Jemima Burke over their behaviour on a number of occasions.

He said he had “lost count of the number of times” this had happened and that he had “never experienced anything” like the level of “interruption, shouting, roaring and deliberate disruption of court” proceedings by Ammi, Martina and Isaac Burke.

Judge Cregan said that Ammi, Martina and Isaac Burke were “clearly attempting to bully and abuse” barristers for the school and defendants in the DAP case by calling them “liars” and shouting them down.

“It is an extraordinary degree of intolerance and inability to listen to the other side,” he said.

The judge also said their actions were designed to “try and bully and intimidate” judges in what was “an intolerable interference with the administration of justice”.

Judge Cregan said that the order is “narrow in its scope” and only restrained the three members of the Burke family from attending in person.

“The behaviour of the Burkes is indefensible and unacceptable in a court of law,” Judge Cregan said in his concluding remarks.

He described their behaviour as “an affront to the administration of justice” and said it would no longer be tolerated by the courts.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.