{"id":412248,"date":"2026-04-22T19:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/412248\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T19:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:32:08","slug":"enoch-burke-asks-appeal-court-to-allow-late-challenge-to-finding-he-was-validly-suspended-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/412248\/","title":{"rendered":"Enoch Burke asks appeal court to allow late challenge to finding he was validly suspended \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jailed teacher Enoch Burke<\/a> has claimed his proposed late appeal of a High Court finding that he was validly suspended from his job at a Co Westmeath school raises issues of public importance and should be allowed to proceed.<\/p>\n

Burke is asking the Court of Appeal<\/a> (CoA) for permission to bring a late challenge to Judge Alexander Owens\u2019s May 2023 ruling that Wilson\u2019s Hospital School validly suspended him from his post and a subsequent order that he be banned from attending the school premises.<\/p>\n

The school suspended \u2013 and later dismissed \u2013 Burke over his conduct towards the then-principal Niamh McShane at a school religious event in June 2022.<\/p>\n

The confrontation arose in circumstances where McShane had earlier directed teachers to address a student by a new name and with the pronouns \u201cthey\u201d and \u201cthem\u201d. Burke, an evangelical Christian, has maintained this request went against his religious beliefs.<\/p>\n

Burke has repeatedly breached the judge\u2019s order to stay away from the school. He is currently incarcerated over this contempt of court. <\/p>\n

In normal course, litigants must file an appeal to a High Court<\/a> decision 28 days after \u201cperfection\u201d, or formalisation, of the relevant order. <\/p>\n

Appearing before a three-judge CoA on Wednesday, Burke argued he should be permitted to bring a late appeal, submitting that he had several strong grounds.<\/p>\n

At the CoA hearing, Burke asserted that Owens \u201chad no right\u201d to find the suspension \u201cvalidly hinged\u201d on his compliance with the instruction. \u201cI would ask the court this morning, was that right? Was that just?\u201d Burke submitted. <\/p>\n

Burke submitted that the principal\u2019s instruction had no standing in law. He cited a Department of Education<\/a> statement issued to The Irish Times in January, stating there was \u201cno legal obligation\u201d on schools to use a pupil\u2019s preferred name or pronouns. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Department rejects ICCL claim schools are obliged to use trans students\u2019 preferred pronounsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Burke submitted that the instruction went against the law, citing constitutional guarantees on freedom of conscience and religion. <\/p>\n

Burke\u2019s appeal is also grounded in the assertion that the judge failed to conduct an analysis of the legitimacy of the principal\u2019s instruction. <\/p>\n

Asked by Judge Caroline Costello why he did not bring his appeal in time, Burke cited his involvement in other litigation related to the dispute with Wilson\u2019s Hospital School. <\/p>\n

He also attributed the delay to \u201ca loss of confidence\u201d in the CoA. This was a result of what he described as an \u201cerroneous\u201d judgment that found there was \u201cno evidence … [Burke] was placed on administrative leave because of the views that he holds\u201d. <\/p>\n

A subsequent CoA judgment \u201cdecimated\u201d that finding, Burke claimed.<\/p>\n

Burke submitted that his appeal raised issues of public importance, relevant to teachers and schools, and ought to be determined properly by the courts. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ammi and Martina Burke appeal decision finding them guilty of criminal contempt of courtOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Barrister for the board of Wilson\u2019s Hospital School, Rosemary Mallon, said the application for the appeal should be refused. \u201cI say that facts of the case are so unusual and so extraordinary that I respectfully submit there should be no extension of time some 2\u00bd years after the order [was] perfected,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mallon said the case brought by Wilson\u2019s Hospital School asked the High Court to determine the lawfulness of the decision to suspend Burke and issues of his trespass at the school. <\/p>\n

Owens was not asked to determine the lawfulness of the principal\u2019s instruction to refer to a child by their preferred pronouns, Mallon submitted.<\/p>\n

Burke issued a defence to the case and counterclaim, pleading that the instruction was unlawful and unconstitutional, counsel said. <\/p>\n

However, Burke was disorderly and \u201cin persistent contempt of court\u201d during the hearings before Owens in May 2023 and refused to give an undertaking to comply with the rules of the court, Mallon said. In those circumstances, Burke was excluded from the hearings.<\/p>\n

As a result, Burke\u2019s claims about the unlawfulness of the instruction were not advanced before the court. \u201cIt was his decision not to prosecute his defence,\u201d Mallon submitted. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0A judge says Enoch Burke has \u2018free will\u2019. But is that true of any of us?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Mallon rejected the significance attached by Burke to the Department of Education statement issued to The Irish Times.<\/p>\n

She said the view of the department that there is no obligation by a school to use a pupil\u2019s preferred pronoun does not mean a direction to use a pronoun is unlawful or illegitimate. <\/p>\n

She said statements to the media were not determinative and are not precedent to be followed by the courts.<\/p>\n

Mallon also submitted that the school\u2019s suspension procedure differed significantly from the dismissal procedure, when \u2013 via a disciplinary appeal panel hearing \u2013 a more thorough interrogation of the principal\u2019s instruction could occur.<\/p>\n

Costello, Judge Mary Faherty and Judge Teresa Pilkington said the court would give its judgment on Burke\u2019s application at a later date.<\/p>\n

After the CoA reserved judgment in the case, Burke appeared before Judge David Nolan in the High Court seeking an emergency order relating to his challenge to his dismissal from Wilson\u2019s Hospital School. <\/p>\n

Burke told the judge he was seeking orders stopping a scheduled disciplinary appeals panel hearing on Friday, and restraining the panel from holding the hearing into his appeal until the outcome of the CoA case. The panel members were not present in court.<\/p>\n

The judge gave permission to Burke to serve the proceedings on the panel members, and said the case could come back on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jailed teacher Enoch Burke has claimed his proposed late appeal of a High Court finding that he was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,10202,6466,43693,73,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-412248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-court-of-appeal","10":"tag-department-of-education","11":"tag-enoch-burke","12":"tag-high-court","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412248","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=412248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}