Watch: Enoch Burke speaks about icy return to school: 'I should be in a warm classroom'
Enoch Burke didn't let the cold weather - or more fines and possible imprisonment - stop him from returning to school
Enoch Burke said students at the school he was suspended from were "waving from classrooms" and supporting him as he turned up to his old workplace again on Monday morning.
The schoolteacher has been sent to prison three times already and could be in for another stint as he said he will continue to stand outside Wilson's Hospital School.
At 9.15am on Monday, Mr Burke arrived at the school as students were welcomed back after the Christmas break. He was driven to the school in Multyfarnham, Westmeath by a family member. His father usually drives him from their home in Co Mayo, however, he is currently in jail for assaulting a Garda.
READ MORE: 'He is right': Irish priest tells Catholics to 'stop laughing at Enoch Burke'
The schoolteacher had been in jail since September 2 for contempt of court, but the High Court ordered his release last month. However, the judge warned Mr Burke that if he breaches the order again and returns to the school, he will be fined €1,400 daily, double the fine he was previously subjected to.
Despite sub-zero conditions, Mr Burke stood outside the school from 9.15am until 3.45pm, when classes finished. Around 20 people gathered outside the school for a “special event” to show support for the teacher. They held yellow signs saying “Enoch is not a criminal he is a Christian and a teacher” and “Please drop all charges against Enoch Burke”.
Despite being told by Gardaí that if they entered school grounds they would be trespassing, some supporters did so to say hello to the teacher. However, speaking after the school day ended, Mr Burke said that his reason for standing outside the school isn’t for support.
Visibly shaking from the cold, he said: “I want to make this absolutely clear. I have come here to do my job. The point here now is an issue of right or wrong, the way I live my life is not about who supports me.
“I should be in a classroom today, in a heated classroom doing the job I love and teaching the children I love. There’s only one reason I was pushed out into the cold and it’s because I said I would not accept transgenderism. It’s not the first day I have been out in the cold. I am not protesting, I am reporting for work.”
The teacher, who was suspended by Wilson's Hospital School in August 2022 following a confrontation with the then-Principal, said the children were happy to see him today.
Mr Burke says he was suspended for refusing to call a student they/them. He added: “I was welcomed by students knocking on the windows and waving from the classrooms and showing their support. This could all be over today, all of this horrific situation could be over today if the judges did what they should have done.”
When asked how he feels about potentially returning to prison, Mr Burke said he didn’t want to speak on that but “it’s not the place to be”.
The teacher owes over €193,000 in fines for continually being in contempt of court by showing up to the school. He continues to be paid his full salary as a teacher, pending the outcome of an appeal over his sacking.
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