Latest news with #EnochBurke
BreakingNews.ie
4 days ago
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Enoch Burke wins appeal over composition of disciplinary appeals panel
Teacher Enoch Burke has won an appeal over the composition of a disciplinary panel set up to hear his appeal against his dismissal. Mr Burke claimed a member of the three-person appeals panel, Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) general secretary, Kieran Christie, was a 'promoter of transgenderism'. The appeals panel denied his claim. Advertisement Ms Justice Mary Faherty, on behalf of the three-judge Court of Appeal (CoA) , said with "a great deal of reluctance", she would grant an injunction to Mr Burke restraining the appeals panel, as presently constituted, from hearing the respondents from holding a hearing. Mr Burke spent more than 500 days in prison for repeatedly disobeying High Court orders not to attend at Wilson's Hospital School in Co Westmeath where he had been employed as a history and German teacher. He went through a disciplinary hearing after publicly clashing with school management when the then-principal Niamh McShane requested that teachers call a transgender child 'they' instead of 'he'. He has argued transgenderism is against his Christian religious beliefs and requiring him to do so was unconstitutional and contrary to the ethos of Wilson's of which the Church of Ireland is school patron. Advertisement When he was dismissed in 2023, he sought an appeal through the normal employment process but then brought a High Court challenge claiming that appeals panel member, Mr Christie, was "an activist for transgenderism" within the ASTI and was personally or objectively biased. In December 2023, the High Court rejected his challenge, saying Mr Burke had not discharged the burden on him of establishing that there was a fair question to be tried of a reasonable apprehension of bias. He appealed to the CoA and the panel opposed his appeal. On Friday, Ms Justice Faherty, for the CoA, said that while accepting Mr Christie does not sit on the appeals panel in his capacity as General Secretary of the ASTI, it must nevertheless be the case that Mr Christie's role in the ASTI, which has advised schools to use a transitioning student's preferred choice of pronoun, would be influential to the reasonable independent observer. Advertisement In those circumstances, she could not agree with the High Court judge that there was not a fair question to be tried in relation to any issue on which it was claimed the ASTI had taken a position. She rejected Mr Burke's suggestion that if his objection to Mr Christie was well-founded, the objection must similarly be well-founded in relation to any other person nominated by the ASTI. The judge said there remained the question as to whether Mr Burke, with his history of contempt of court "gets to pick and choose how and when he gets to invoke the court's protection and jurisdiction'. Mr Burke, apart from spending more than 500 days in prison over several periods, was also the subject of daily €700 and later €1,400 fines for every time he turned up at the school. Advertisement Ireland 'Golden couple': Profits soar at Brian O'Driscoll... Read More Recently, the High Court made orders permitting the seizure of money to pay the fines from the bank account into which his school salary continued to be paid pending the CoA decision. Ms Justice Faherty said she considered his contempt no less egregious now than when he was before the High Court challenging the appeals panel. However, the distinguishing feature of the present case was the spectre of unfairness that will hover over the disciplinary appeal process if he has to face that body as presently constituted, given that he has made out a case of a reasonable apprehension of objective bias, she said. While it was normal for the loser in a case to pay the winner's costs, the court was "not in normal territory" here. The judge said there would be no costs order in Mr Burke's favour save an order setting aside the costs order made against him in the High Court.
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Enoch Burke wins injunction to halt disciplinary panel hearing his appeal over dismissal
Teacher Enoch Burke has won an appeal over the composition of a disciplinary panel set up to hear his appeal against his dismissal. Mr Burke claimed a member of the three-person appeals panel, Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) general secretary, Kieran Christie, was a 'promoter of transgenderism'. The appeals panel denied his claim. Ms Justice Mary Faherty, on behalf of the three-judge Court of Appeal, said with 'a great deal of reluctance', she would grant an injunction to Mr Burke restraining the appeals panel, as presently constituted, from hearing the respondents from holding a hearing. Mr Burke spent more than 500 days in prison for repeatedly disobeying High Court orders not to attend at Wilson's Hospital School in Co Westmeath where he had been employed as a history and German teacher. READ MORE He went through a disciplinary hearing after publicly clashing with school management when the then-principal Niamh McShane requested that teachers call a child 'they' instead of 'he'. He has argued transgenderism is against his Christian religious beliefs and requiring him to do so was unconstitutional and contrary to the ethos of Wilson's of which the Church of Ireland is school patron. When he was dismissed in 2023, he sought an appeal through the normal employment process but then brought a High Court challenge claiming that appeals panel member, Mr Christie, was an 'activist for transgenderism' within the ASTI and was personally or objectively biased. In December 2023, the High Court rejected his challenge saying Mr Burke had not discharged the burden on him of establishing that there was a fair question to be tried of a reasonable apprehension of bias. He appealed to the Court of Appeal and the panel opposed his appeal. On Friday, Ms Justice Faherty, for the Court of Appeal, said that while accepting Mr Christie does not sit on the appeals panel in his capacity as General Secretary of the ASTI, it must nevertheless be the case that Mr. Christie's role in the ASTI, which has advised schools to use a transitioning student's preferred choice of pronoun, would be influential to the reasonable independent observer. In those circumstances, she could not agree with the High Court judge that there was not a fair question to be tried in relation to any issue of which it was claimed the ASTI had taken a position. She rejected Mr Burke's suggestion that if his objection to Mr. Christie was well founded, the objection must similarly be well-founded in relation to any other person nominated by the ASTI. The judge said there remained the question as to whether Mr Burke, with his history of contempt of court 'gets to pick and choose how and when he gets to invoke the court's protection and jurisdiction'. Mr Burke, apart from spending more than 500 days in prison over a number of periods, was also the subject of daily €700 and later €1,400 fines for every time he turned up at the school. Recently the High Court made orders permitting the seizure of money to pay the fines from the bank account into which his school salary continued to be paid pending the Court of Appeal decision. Ms Justice Faherty said she considered his contempt no less egregious now than when he was before the High Court challenging the appeals panel. However, the distinguishing feature of the present case was the spectre of unfairness that will hover over the disciplinary appeal process if he has to face that body as presently constituted given that he has made out a case of a reasonable apprehension of objective bias, she said. While it was normal for the loser in a case to pay the winner's costs, the court was 'not in normal territory' here. The judge said there would be no costs order in Mr Burke favour save an order setting aside the costs order made against him in the High Court.
Irish Times
22-05-2025
- Irish Times
State not opposed to overturning public order conviction of Jemima Burke
The State will not oppose an order overturning a public order conviction imposed last year on Jemima Burke in connection with videoing a coroner and hospital staff, the High Court has heard. However, the State argued the matter should still be sent back to the original court for a new hearing. In November, the High Court permitted Ms Burke to seek a review of her case after she alleged her constitutional rights were breached when she was arrested, charged and convicted of a public order offence within a matter of hours. Ms Burke, a sister of the teacher Enoch Burke, was convicted of a public order offence on June 20th last year by Judge Vincent Deane in Ballina District Court, Co Mayo. READ MORE On Thursday she compared the conviction to 'something you would see in the Middle Ages'. Ms Burke (30), a management consultant in professional services and a University of Galway graduate in journalism, said she attended an inquest in Swinford, Co Mayo, on June 20th, concerning the death of a sepsis patient at Mayo University Hospital (MUH). She said the man spent 42 hours on a trolley, then went missing while in hospital care and was later found dead in a river in Castlebar. She said she used her phone to film the coroner and several MUH staff on the public street during the inquest's break for lunch. A garda arrested Ms Burke, confiscated her phone and brought her to Ballina Garda station where she was detained in a cell for more than two hours. She was then charged with two public order offences relating to a breach of the peace. She said she refused to sign a bail bond when she appeared before Judge Deane. Judge Deane, she said, told her it would be unjust to adjourn the matter if she was not going to sign the bond, that there was little chance of her going to prison and that he had 'to protect your interests at some level, too'. Ms Burke said a garda had made a number of allegations in the trial, including that she had obstructed paths of individuals and shoved her phone into their faces. She said the phone footage would clearly have had probative value, but it was in the possession of the gardaí at that stage. Judge Deane convicted her of one of the public order offences, under section six of the Public Order Act, with the other taken into consideration. He fined her €350. At the High Court on Thursday, Ms Burke argued she had been the victim of a 'serious' miscarriage of justice as there was 'excessive haste' in hearing the original case and no disclosure was made to her at her trial. She also had no legal representation, had been detained in a cell for two hours and was 'railroaded' into trial just 55 minutes after leaving the cells. Kieran Kelly, for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), told Ms Justice Sara Phelan she can exercise her power of discretion to remit the matter to the District Court for a different judge to hear. A remittal would remedy matters for Ms Burke and give her the time required to prepare a case, he said. Mr Kelly said the DPP was not opposing the quashing of the original conviction. Ms Justice Phelan reserved judgment.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
St Patrick's Gala in DC Crashed by Controversial Irish Christian Fundamentalists
A St Patrick's Day gala in Washington was disrupted by members of a well-known fundamentalist Christian family from Ireland on Thursday night, as they attempted to get the attention of Ireland's prime minister, or taoiseach. Footage from journalist Sean Defoe shows Isaac and Ammi Burke disrupting the Ireland Funds Gala alongside their mother, Martina, to protest the imprisonment of their brother, Enoch, in a high-profile legal case. Footage shows the Burkes interrupting a speech by Taoiseach Micheal Martin, who was in town after meeting US President Donald Trump, before being forcibly removed by security. 'Why is Enoch Burke in prison for not accepting transgenderism?' Isaac Burke repeatedly shouts. Enoch Burke has been repeatedly imprisoned for defying court orders which mandated him to stay away from his former workplace, Wilson's Hospital School in County Westmeath. Burke was initially suspended from his teaching position following a confrontation with the school's principal over his refusal to address a transgender student by their preferred pronouns. Credit: Sean Defoe via Storyful That were first planted. Hey. Enoch Burke. Enoch Burke in prison for 513 days. Enoch Burke in prison. Enoch Burke. Not accepting transgenderism. Why is he in prison for transgenderism. Why? for not accepting. Martin has a prison. Now the person. I think You. What I Education imprisoned by Martin. strippers imprison my son for 500 days for not approving transgender ideology. And now he's stripping an upright, an upright sincere, well, intelligent, educated young man, mid-30s. Present under the watch of Martin and his government. My son has been imprisoned for over 500 days for not approving with sexual offenders, murderers. How dare. Martin in there. He is phoning the American people. The Irish people live in fear. They live in fear. Teachers are afraid in schools. Yes they are. Every single child is taught LGBTQ plus bisexual transgenderism as fact. It's a sad thing. It's a sad day for Ireland. We need President Trump to know the truth. Martin is fooling him, deceiving you. He is not telling them the truth, that the Irish people are living in fear. They are. We are afraid to have a Christian belief in Ireland because me or Martin. Says acceptance is key of every perversity. You got the entrance for 513. I'm sorry we're on the on the side. I can be on that side. I need my shoe. We will get it from the entrance to the side. You're not on that side you guys do, please. Thank you so much. Go get your shoe. Thank you. Just don't block the door. Thank you. Not block the door.
Russia Today
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Irish teacher punished over trans student's pronouns
An Irish schoolteacher who refused to use 'they' instead of 'he' when addressing a biologically male transgender student, citing his Christian beliefs, could now be stripped of his salary, according to The Irish Times. He has already spent more than 500 days in prison. Enoch Burke, formerly a teacher of history and German at Wilson's Hospital School in County Westmeath, has been at the center of a prolonged legal and ethical dispute since 2022. Burke was suspended after he opposed the school principal's request to refer to a 'transitioning' student by a new name and the pronoun 'they.' Following a hearing on Friday, the High Court of Ireland will be asked to appoint a receiver to recover unpaid fines from Burke's salary. If approved, the move would enable authorities to collect €79,100 – an amount he has accrued through daily €700 fines for showing up at Wilson's Hospital School in defiance of court orders to stay away. The teacher, who comes from an evangelical Christian background, had repeatedly failed to heed a court order barring him from entering the grounds of the school. 'I teach everyone who's in front of me. I teach every single student,' Burke told SkyNews last year. 'But when I am commanded, when I'm told that I can't have my religious belief anymore, when I'm told I have to confess belief in transgenderism, instead of my simple belief, which is male and female, that's just a breach simply of my rights.' Although suspended with full pay in May 2022 pending an investigation into alleged misconduct, Enoch Burke continued to show up at the school, leading to his imprisonment for contempt of court in September 2022. To date, he has spent a total of 512 days in jail across three separate periods for defying court orders. Despite being dismissed from the school, Burke continues to receive his salary under administrative leave while his appeal over his termination is still pending. Recently, Justice David Nolan doubled Burke's daily fine to €1,400 after it was revealed that he had entered the school through a student entrance and attempted to join a school assembly. Nolan said by his rough calculations, Burke owes around €190,000 so far as a result of a €700 a day fine imposed on him by the court in January 2023. The teacher has accused the courts of failing to recognize his constitutional right to religious freedom, and said that these rights were breached when he was asked to refer to a student as they/them. According to its website, 'Wilson's Hospital School is, to this day, a place where true love of knowledge makes all study a discovery and joy. Our school maintains a distinctive Church of Ireland ethos, fostering Christian practice and teaching, promoting dignity and respect for the individual and committed to the provision of a caring family atmosphere in which education can flourish.'
