Enoch Burke arrested ahead of court hearing

Irish teacher Enoch Burke was arrested on Monday morning after a High Court Judge ordered he be brought to court to hear whether or not he will be returned to prison.

Mr Burke was released from Mountjoy Prison on Wednesday to prepare for a case against an appeals body due to review his dismissal from the school.

His release was on the condition he would not return to the school, but Mr Burke appeared there on Thursday and Friday.

Rosemary Mallon, a barrister representing the school’s board of management, told the court on Friday his presence on school property had caused “unprecedented and significant impact on the work of the school”.

Mr Justice Brian Cregan made “an order of attachment”, instructing Mr Burke be brought to court on Monday to “give his version of events”.

The board of management of Wilson’s Hospital School and Mr Burke have been entangled in a legal dispute stemming from incidents over a request in 2022 from the school’s then-principal to address a student by a new name and pronoun.

Mr Burke, an Evangelical Christian who taught German and history at the school, has repeatedly argued the direction was unconstitutional and went against his right to express his religious beliefs.

The school has been granted injunctive relief, restraining him from attending the school, however he continued to attend in breach of the order.

He has been fined more than 225,000 euro and imprisoned for 550 days, a figure cited by Mr Burke, for attending the school in breach of the court order.

Mr Burke’s most recent stint in jail began in late November.

He had sought a temporary injunction against a disciplinary appeals body tasked with reviewing his dismissal from the school.

At the time of Mr Burke’s release from prison last week, Mr Cregan had said he had been let out for “one reason and one reason only”; so that he had time to prepare for his case against the appeals body reviewing his dismissal and instructed him not to attend the school.

At the school on Friday, Mr Burke told reporters he had returned to Wilson’s Hospital as “I teach here” and that he was there “to work”.