The Irish schoolteacher who became famous over his perseverance in protecting his freedom of conscience returned to his former workplace on Thursday morning, January 15th, less than 24 hours after being released from prison, despite a High Court warning that doing so could see him jailed again.
Enoch Burke, a German and history teacher and an Evangelical Christian, arrived at Wilson’s Hospital School in central Ireland shortly after 9.15 a.m., one day after walking free from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin.
Burke had been released on Wednesday by the High Court to allow him to prepare legal proceedings against a disciplinary appeals body reviewing his dismissal from the school.
The judge warned that the release was conditional on Burke not presenting himself at the school and stated that he would be returned to prison if he did.
Speaking to the media as he left prison, Burke rejected those conditions, insisting it was “my duty to be at my workplace.”
Enoch Burke has been imprisoned multiple times since late 2022 for breaching a High Court injunction that barred him from the school.
His legal ordeal began when he objected on religious grounds to a request from school management to address a ‘transitioning’ student by a new name and the pronoun “they.” Burke has consistently argued that complying would violate his Christian beliefs and constitutional rights.
He has cited total fines of €225,000 and what he says amounts to 550 days spent in prison up to this point as evidence of the severity of the state’s response.
On Thursday morning, he went to the school gates, where he was either stopped by security or briefly passed through the gates before being prevented from remaining on the premises, according to accounts later put before the court.
Addressing journalists outside the school, Burke said: “I’m coming here to do a day’s work, that’s what I’ve always done. I should never have been in prison in the first place, this is my workplace, this is where I teach.” He remained outside the gates for several hours in cold conditions.
Last week, Burke sought a temporary injunction against the Disciplinary Appeals Panel, which is reviewing his dismissal. Before ordering his release, the judge said the papers prepared by Burke raised “substantive” and “credible” issues.
On Thursday, the High Court in Dublin was informed that the school may bring a fresh application to have Burke committed to prison again. The judge indicated he would hear an urgent motion later in the day, as the legal battle over Burke’s case continues.
The case highlights the extent to which extraordinary legal and administrative measures are being deployed not only in Ireland, but in other Western societies too, to enforce a woke agenda, ignoring religious beliefs and basic biological realities in the name of progressivism.
