LAST UPDATE | 19 Jan

A HIGH COURT judge has ordered Enoch Burke be returned to prison for repeatedly breaching a court order instructing him not to trespass at Wilson’s Hospital School in Co Westmeath.

It’s the fifth time Burke has been ordered to prison after repeated breaches of the court order.

Burke was arrested earlier today ahead of a scheduled appearance at the High Court in Dublin this morning. His arrest was ordered by Judge Brian Cregan on Friday.

A court order has directed Burke not to trespass at the school where he worked as a teacher but has been repeatedly breached.

He had been in jail since late November for breaches of the court order and was released from Mountjoy Prison last week, on the condition he would not return to the school.

However, he returned to the school a day after his release on Thursday, and also returned to the school last Friday and again this morning.

On Friday, Judge Cregan ordered Burke be arrested so he can be brought to court this morning to hear whether he would be sent back to prison.

The judge made “an order of attachment” instructing Burke be brought to court to “give his version of events”.

In court on Monday, Rosemary Mallon, a barrister representing the school’s board of management, read an affidavit from the school’s principal.

Noel Cunningham said Burke had arrived at the school on both Thursday and Friday mornings and was stopped walking up to the school by a security guard they had privately hired, but stayed standing beyond the school’s boundary wall.

He said there were also a number of protesters at the school gates, some of whom “briefly” trespassed on school property.

Cunningham said he had complaints from staff and teachers who raised safety concerns about the crowd who had gathered.

He said the atmosphere at the gate was “at times unpleasant”.

In his affidavit, the headteacher also apologised for participating in an article published in The Sunday Independent, adding he did not have consent from the school’s board to take part in the piece.

He said it was a “misguided attempt” to generate some good publicity for the school, but that it was “entirely inappropriate” to have given the interview in light of the ongoing legal proceedings.

Burke was brought to and from court by gardai and was accompanied by his father Sean Burke and his brother Isaac Burke.

Addressing the court, Enoch Burke said: “I’m not in contempt of court, I’ve the utmost respect for court.”

Judge Brian Cregan replied that this was “nonsense”.

Burke repeated a number of criticisms of the handling of his case by the school and the Irish justice system.

Judge Cregan found him in contempt of court and made an order for him to be “committed immediately” to Mountjoy Prison.

Earlier this month, Burke sought a temporary injunction against a disciplinary appeals body tasked with reviewing his dismissal from the school.

He was freed from prison last week after Judge Cregan offered him time to prepare for that case, but he was warned not to show up to the school once he was released.

Burke was initially suspended from his role at the school in 2022.   

Wilson’s Hospital School alleges he interrupted a religious service in its chapel in June of that year.

Burke claims the school principal had made a “demand” that staff accept what he describes as “transgenderism” and that it was against his beliefs.

-With additional reporting from Diarmuid Pepper