{"id":279905,"date":"2026-02-04T08:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T08:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/279905\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T08:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T08:07:08","slug":"enoch-burke-informed-of-resignations-from-panel-which-heard-appeal-over-his-dismissal-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/279905\/","title":{"rendered":"Enoch Burke informed of resignations from panel which heard appeal over his dismissal \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jailed teacher Enoch Burke<\/a> has been informed \u201ca number of resignations\u201d have been received from a disciplinary appeal panel convened to hear his appeal over his dismissal from Wilson\u2019s Hospital School.<\/p>\n

In an emailed letter to Burke dated February 3rd, a law firm representing the three-member panel (Dap) informed him \u201ca number of resignations\u201d had been received from members of the panel.<\/p>\n

The letter, from McInnes Dunne Murphy LLP, said the resignations arose in light of issues arising from legal proceedings initiated by Burke against the panel. <\/p>\n

As a consequence, the panel can no longer deal with Burke\u2019s appeal, the letter stated.<\/p>\n

Noting the matter is listed before the High Court<\/a> on Wednesday, February 4th, the letter stated this information \u201cis being brought to your attention and the attention of the court at the earliest opportunity\u201d.<\/p>\n

The letter stated, in these circumstances, that it appeared Burke\u2019s application for an injunction and his underlying proceedings against the panel were \u201cmoot\u201d [pointless] and should be struck out subject to such order as the court may deem appropriate in relation to costs.<\/p>\n

The development comes after the High Court was informed last month the panel had temporarily agreed not to take any further steps in reviewing Burke\u2019s dismissal. <\/p>\n

Burke is in prison for civil contempt of court orders dating from August 2022 requiring him to stay away from the Co Westmeath school pending the outcome of the disciplinary matter. <\/p>\n

He was suspended over his conduct towards the then principal at a school religious event in June 2022. She had earlier requested teachers to address a student by a new name and the pronouns they and them.<\/p>\n

Burke has been jailed for a number of periods totalling almost 600 days because he has repeatedly trespassed on school property in breach of court orders.<\/p>\n

He has also engaged in an appeal process over a dismissal decision taken by the school. After he successfully challenged the composition of a first panel to hear his appeal, a second panel was convened and heard his appeal in early December. <\/p>\n

The panel was due to deliver its recommendations on January 9th but Burke initiated proceedings on January 6th over the conduct of the Dap hearing<\/a> and sought an injunction restraining further steps pending the outcome of his challenge.<\/p>\n

The High Court said he had raised serious and substantive issues in relation to the Dap hearing and freed him from prison on January 14th to allow him prepare his case. However, when Burke again trespassed on the school property, he was returned to prison days later.<\/a><\/p>\n

Barrister Padraic Lyons, for the Dap, told Judge Brian Cregan last month his clients were, \u201con an interim basis only\u201d, providing an undertaking to postpone the Dap hearing and to take \u201cno further steps\u201d to progress the appeal. The undertaking was provided in the context of Burke\u2019s challenge against the Dap. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jailed teacher Enoch Burke has been informed \u201ca number of resignations\u201d have been received from a disciplinary appeal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,43693,73,61,60],"class_list":["post-279905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-enoch-burke","tag-high-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279905","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=279905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}