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ER Editor: See our previous coverage of Irish high school teacher Enoch Burke’s case HERE. As far as we can gather, Burke is seeking a ruling on his constitutional right to free speech, which repeated court hearings don’t appear to address. Burke’s father and brother address this point in the short video below.
Here is Burke’s lawyer giving a broad update —
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Teacher Who Refused to Call a Boy a Girl Will Remain in Jail for Christmas, Judge Rules
He has been engaged in a legal dispute with the board of the school stemming from a request in 2022 from the then-principal that a student be addressed by a new name and pronoun.
Since then, Burke has been found to have repeatedly trespassed on school property in breach of court orders.
He was brought before the High Court in Dublin on Wednesday for a hearing on several matters relating to the dispute.
At the outset of the hearing, Mr Justice Brian Cregan warned Burke, who was accompanied by his father and one of his brothers, that if there was any interruption from any member of his family, he was going to ask them all to leave the court room as he was “not going to tolerate any further interruption”.
It came after gardai were directed to remove members of the Burke family from the court during previous sittings.
Mr Justice Cregan also told Burke, who was representing himself, that he would be immediately returned to Mountjoy Prison if he strayed beyond the normal conduct of the court and that he could continue attending remotely.
The judge gave Burke an opportunity to purge his contempt and give an undertaking not to trespass on the grounds of the school.
However, he told Mr Justice Cregan that it was “very important” that his position was clear and that he did not accept that he was in contempt of court.
Burke contends that he is in prison for his religious beliefs relating to transgenderism.
He said he had a “clear conscience” and that he respected the “laws of the land”.
The judge told Burke this was “nonsense”, adding that the court “does not engage in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ language”.
He said Burke had been in contempt for years and “no amount of you wishing it away” would change that, telling him that he was in breach of a valid court order that had not been appealed.
Mr Justice Cregan said Burke had a constitutional right to his religion and religious beliefs, but he had been dismissed for gross misconduct.
He said the “irony of the situation” was that if he had remained outside of the school gates, he would not have been in prison for a single day.
Burke maintained that the reason for his suspension was his refusal to comply with the principal’s instruction.
The judge said there was “no doubt” that that was where the dispute started, but the contempt was an entirely separate issue relating to the order not to trespass.
Burke said the school should never have received that order, but Mr Cregan said he had not appealed it.
The former teacher said three-and-a-half years of time had been wasted along with taxpayers’ money.
Worth reading in full.
Andrew Doyle in UnHerd defends Enoch Burke and his protest, calling him an “imperfect martyr” for free speech.
Source
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