{"id":248150,"date":"2026-01-16T17:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/248150\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T17:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:30:10","slug":"judge-orders-arrest-of-enoch-burke-after-he-turns-up-at-wilsons-hospital-school-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/248150\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge orders arrest of Enoch Burke after he turns up at Wilson\u2019s Hospital School \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The High Court<\/a> has ordered the arrest of teacher Enoch Burke<\/a> and for him to be brought before a judge on Monday to argue why he should not be sent back to prison after he again breached an order not to trespass on Wilson\u2019s Hospital School in Co Westmeath.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Mr Justice Brian Cregan said he was prepared to order Mr Burke\u2019s attachment, or arrest, so he can be brought by garda\u00ed to court, which will then decide whether to commit him back to Mountjoy Prison<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It followed an application by barrister Rosemary Mallon, for the school, who said Mr Burke was not in court for the Friday afternoon application because less than an hour earlier he was still at the school.<\/p>\n

Ms Mallon said he went past the boundary wall before a security man employed by the school stopped him from going any further.<\/p>\n

Ms Mallon said there is now a clear situation where, yet again, a member of the regulated teaching profession, no matter what is said to him, \u201ccontinues to turn his back on the rule of law\u201d.<\/p>\n

This had, she said, resulted in an unprecedented impact on the work of the school. It meant the principal had to do things such as re-engage security at short notice and address issues raised by pupils, parents and others who had to get in past protests at the gate, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of that is what a principal should be doing and it is my submission and with great regret that yet again that I ask that Mr Burke be committed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The judge said he was satisfied Mr Burke had yet again breached a 2023 order permanently prohibiting him from trespassing on the school and he ordered he should be brought before the court on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cDepending on what he says, I will then make an order for his committal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Enoch Burke leaves Mountjoy Prison after High Court orders release to prepare for hearingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Mr Burke was released from prison by the judge on Wednesday having spent more than 560 days there in different periods over the last three years for similar breaches. <\/p>\n

His release on Wednesday was ordered despite Mr Burke telling the judge in no uncertain terms he would be back at the school immediately. <\/p>\n

The judge had ordered his release to give him what he said was an opportunity to prepare a new case he is bringing in relation to the composition of an appeal panel which will hear an appeal against his dismissal.<\/p>\n

His dismissal arose out of his conduct following a refusal to obey a direction from the then school principal to call a transgender pupil by a new name and by the they\/them pronoun. Each time he has been jailed it has been as a result of a breach of an order not to trespass on the school\u2019s grounds.<\/p>\n

He has repeatedly said he has been put in jail because of his views on transgender issues and that his religious and constitutional rights have been breached. <\/p>\n

Several judges have told him he was jailed for breaching a court order not to trespass on the school grounds and it was not about his religious or constitutional rights but the rule of law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The High Court has ordered the arrest of teacher Enoch Burke and for him to be brought before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43693,73,61,60,89406,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-248150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-enoch-burke","9":"tag-high-court","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-mountjoy-prison","13":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}