Enoch Burke: Irish High Court rules school correct to suspend teacher

Enoch Burke at the High Court in Dublin

The Irish High Court has ruled that a decision by a school to suspend teacher Enoch Burke in August 2022 was correct.

Wilson's Hospital School had asked the court to find that it been right to place Mr Burke on paid leave pending the outcome of a disciplinary process.

He had argued that was unlawful and a result of his opposition to the extension of transgender rights.

The school had also obtained a High Court injunction requiring him to stay away during his suspension.

Mr Justice Alexander Owens ruled that, due to Enoch Burke's behaviour at a school board of management meeting, it was "rational and reasonable" for it to expect him to engage in further harmful or disruptive conduct.

The judge said the board was entitled to take into account that Mr Burke did not address the issue of how he would behave in the school.

He said there was no evidence that any relevant matter was not duly considered or that any irrelevant matter was taken into account by the board in arriving at its decision.

Judge Owens also ruled that Enoch Burke had no right to enter the school once he had been suspended and that his attendance afterwards amounted to trespass.

Mr Burke's continued refusal to comply with court orders banning him from the premises resulted in him being found in contempt of court and jailed for 108 days.

Following his release from prison he has continued to breach the injunction and was being subjected to a daily fine of €700 (£606).

Mr Owens said the school was now entitled to a permanent injunction prohibiting Mr Burke from turning up at the site.

He awarded the school €15,000 (£12,945) in damages for trespass, in addition to the daily fines imposed for breach of court orders.

Enoch Burke is appealing the decision of the school to dismiss him following a disciplinary hearing.

In a counterclaim, he said the disciplinary process against him should be set aside and that it breaches his constitutional rights, including his right to freedom of expression of his religious beliefs.

The school had directed him to use the pronouns preferred by a student transitioning to a different gender.