During a hearing that took place on Monday, November 7, High Court Justice Brian O’Moore rebuffed Enoch Burke’s criticisms of other members of the judiciary, saying it was “utterly without merit”.

After being in Mountjoy Prison since early September, Enoch Burke was back before the High Court on Monday seeking a stay on the full hearing in the proceedings brought against him by Wilson’s Hospital School. The stay he is seeking would halt the legal process against him until his appeal against an injunction obtained by the school is determined.

Burke was first jailed for contempt of court after he failed to attend court, where he was summoned for breaching an injunction against him. The injunction was granted to the school where the man worked after he reportedly turned up despite being on paid administrative leave pending a disciplinary process.

The school teacher was suspended for his alleged conduct at a school event in June, where he harassed the principal and publicly disputed a Transgender student’s ‘they/them’ pronouns, saying that a belief system was being forced upon the students and that Transgenderism goes against the institution’s ethos and the teaching of the Church of Ireland.

Can someone explain to these people that Enoch Burke could release Enoch Burke pic.twitter.com/HliF1UFkUF

— Wendy Lyon ?⚫️ (@wendylyon) September 11, 2022

On October 4, Burke lodged an appeal to the High Court regarding the decision to grant Wilson’s Hospital School injunctions against him, preventing him from teaching or attending the school. In his submissions to the court, he remarked that he had good chances of being successful in his appeal against a disciplinary process that he deemed “shameful” and “manifestly unlawful”.

He also accused the judges of denigrating and disregarding his religious beliefs instead of upholding the Constitution and claimed that their decisions were “a dark day” for religious freedoms. He said that the judges who had granted the injunctions against him, “are well remunerated by taxpayers, and paid multiple times more than what a teacher gets,” and “were not adhering to the oath of office they had taken before God“.

Justice Brian O’Moore rejected the allegations made by Enoch Burke saying that they were “utterly without merit” and “inappropriate”. He explained how there was no misconduct from other judges towards Burke, as evidenced by the fact that he was allowed to make lengthy submissions full of “scurrilous” allegations against other members of the bench.

Burke’s appeal is now due to be heard by the Court of Appeal in mid-February.