Enoch Burke calls appeals process ‘a shambles’ after two resignations

Enoch Burke has called the process to appeal against his dismissal from a Co Westmeath school a “shambles” after two members of the panel resigned this week.

Mr Burke had sought a temporary injunction against an appeals body that was reviewing the decision to dismiss him from Wilson’s Hospital School.

Mr Burke, who won a case last year where he objected to the make-up of the appeals panel, said on Wednesday that the resignations were “astounding”.

The High Court was told on Wednesday that two members of the disciplinary appeals panel (DAP) had resigned.

Padraic Lyons SC representing the three panel members said there had been developments in relation to the case which appeared to him to render Mr Burke’s injunction “moot”.

Mr Burke, who appeared before the court via videolink, said he had been updated about the developments by email on Tuesday but had not had the chance to access it yet because he was in prison.

He said the DAP “is a shambles now for the second time” and that there were issues “we need to get to the root of”.

He said he did not agree that the developments meant that the injunction he had sought against the DAP was moot, and asked for a two-week adjournment to consider the issues.

Mr Lyons said that the resignations “secures the ultimate outcome which he (Mr Burke) sought to achieve, which is that panel would no longer sit” in its former guise.

When asked by judge Brian Cregan if the remaining member of the board would also no longer sit on the new panel, Mr Lyons said the nominations were “out of my control”.

He said he represented the disciplinary panel as it had been constituted, and did not have control over who is nominated to the next panel.

The fact that two members of the panel have resigned means a new panel can be nominated, he said.

He said while he saw that there was “good reason” to nominate three new members to the panel, he said it was possible that the remaining panel member could be renominated to the DAP.

He added that he “struggled greatly” with how the continuation of Mr Burke’s injunction was “in anyone’s interest”.

Mr Justice Brian Cregan granted an adjournment until February 20.

Mr Burke’s brother Isaac Burke interrupted proceedings at one point and was escorted out of court by three gardai.

Mr Burke’s sister Ammi Burke and mother Martina Burke also interrupted proceedings briefly.

Mr Burke also told the court that he intended to appeal against the order of Mr Justice Alexander Owens in relation to the issue of the legitimacy of the initial instruction of a former principal of Wilson’s Hospital School.

The long-running legal dispute between the board of management of the Co Westmeath school and Mr Burke stems 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 has continued to attend in breach of the order.

He has been fined 225,000 euro and imprisoned for more than 550 days for attending the school in breach of the court order, arguing that it was still his place of work.

He has appealed against his dismissal from the school and remains on a full teacher’s salary until the appeals process ends – his salary has been directed to Wilson’s Hospital School to pay off amounts in damages owed for trespassing.

In January, he sought a temporary injunction against the DAP and raised issues which Mr Justice Cregan called “credible” and “substantive”.

Mr Justice Cregan allowed him to be released from Mountjoy Prison in mid-January to prepare for his case against the DAP, but after he attended Wilson’s Hospital School the following day he was imprisoned again.