From free to freezing: Enoch Burke goes back to school despite cold weather, fines, and threat of prison

Enoch Burke could be facing another stint in prison as he has turned up to his old workplace Wilson’s Hospital School again this morning.

Students were welcomed back after the Christmas break and the schoolteacher once again showed up despite being in contempt of court.

Mr Burke was driven to the school and arrived at 9.15am this morning. His father usually drives him from their home in Co Mayo, however, he is currently in jail for assaulting a gardaí.

READ MORE: 'He is right': Irish priest tells Catholics to 'stop laughing at Enoch Burke'

READ MORE: Enoch Burke freed from prison as court hears six-figure sum he owes in fines

The schoolteacher was previously jailed for failing to comply with court orders to stay away from the school in Multyfarnham, Westmeath. Mr Burke had been in jail since September 2 for contempt of court and The High Court ordered his release last month.

However, the judge warned the schoolteacher that if he breaches the order again and returns to the school he will be fined €1400 daily. This is double the fine he was previously subjected to.

Enoch Burke was released from prison on December 20th but the judge doubled a €700-a-day fine previously imposed on him by the High Court for every day that he continues to turn up at the school where he had worked.

Enoch Burke arrives at school after the Christmas break. Photo: Mick O'Neill
(Image: Image: Mick O'Neill/Daily Mirror/Irish Daily Star)

Mr Justice David Nolan also directed that representatives of the Department of Finance and the Attorney General should attend court in January to explain what mechanism can be put in place to collect some €193,000 in fines now owed by him since he first breached the order to stay away from Wilson's Hospital School in Co Westmeath.

Mr Burke continues to be paid his full salary as a teacher, pending the outcome of an appeal over his sacking, while also costing the State €80,000 a year to keep him in prison, the judge said. He was well into his second year in prison before his release.

The judge said he was in jail "because he chooses to be in jail" over some misconceived belief that he is there because of his religious beliefs.

The Irish Mirror last week told how an Irish priest has urged Catholics to “stop laughing” at Enoch Burke and admitted that his sympathy for the sacked schoolteacher had grown, despite originally disapproving of his long-running protest.

Fr Brendan Kilcoyne questioned whether he had been wrong and Mr Burke had been right, and that he was being taught by the evangelical Christian, who he claimed had “shamed” Catholics with his trenchant stance.

“From the beginning, I felt that Enoch could have dealt differently with the issue in the school; dealt with the principal differently. But he is right,” said Fr Kilcoyne, who is the parish priest in Balla, Co Mayo.

“There is a huge problem if you’re teaching [about transgenderism] in a Christian school. There is a huge problem if you are acknowledging alleged gender transformation, gender transition in a Christian school,” he added.

Fr Kilcoyne said he originally believed that Mr Burke could have framed his objection differently and that his family could have handled the issue differently – particularly when disrespect was shown for the courts.

He also felt that Mr Burke should not have continued showing up at his former school in Westmeath but said his sympathy was growing “as a result of his persistent personal witness and the appalling price he’s paying for it”.

“I must acknowledge that, if I am right in this, that I am being taught by him. I must acknowledge that as a matter of honesty,” Fr Kilcoyne added on an episode of his podcast, The Brendan Option.

“I was outraged by his behaviour, the behaviour of his family in court. Now, I’m beginning to wonder that, if they sincerely believe that the courts are applying an unjust law, what choice does a citizen have?” he asked.

“I am the most innocuous, harmless little creature you can imagine… but I am seriously beginning to wonder whether I was not wrong and Enoch right – that’s where I am now.”

Fr Kilcoyne said Catholics may have to think more about the issue, and may have to conclude that Mr Burke – who is not a Catholic – has shamed us.

“I am beginning to think I may have been wrong, I don’t question for a second that what [Mr Burke] is highlighting is absolutely wrong. What I questioned was the way in which he was doing it.”

He called on Catholics to “get your schools back”, and suggested that the public was failing to address the issue of transgenderism being taught in classrooms “out of cowardice and laziness”.

“And I’m saying to you, Stop laughing at Enoch, right? Now, I didn’t laugh at him. I was bothered, I was worried, and I was disapproving… it bothered me that he was doing something that many of us didn’t have the courage to do.”

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