Courts

Enoch Burke remarks over use of transcript strongly rebuked by High Court judge

Justice Conor Digman says teacher’s comments without foundation and ‘on the verge of being contemptuous’

Enoch Burke: said the judge’s comments about his submissions were “outrageous". Photograph: Collins Courts

Aodhan O'Faolain
Tue Aug 8 2023 - 21:03

A High Court judge has described comments made by Enoch Burke about the hearing of his action aimed at halting the hearing of his appeal against his dismissal from his job as “utterly without foundation” and being borderline “contempt”.

Mr Justice Conor Digman made the remarks after Co Mayo teacher raised his concerns about what had happened at the end of the hearing of Mr Burke’s challenge against the presence of one of the three members of a Disciplinary Appeals Panel due to hear his bid to overturn last January’s decision by Wilson’s Hospital School to terminate his employment.

Judgement is pending in that application. However Mr Burke, who addressed Tuesday’s vacation sitting of the court via video-link, said that he was concerned that court would consider using a transcript of last month’s hearing as part of its deliberations in that matter.

Mr Burke said that he did not know in advance of the hearing that a transcript had been requested by lawyers acting for the panel, and he had not seen a copy of it.

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He said it was wrong for the court to use the transcript, which he claimed amounted to a “private arrangement”.

He also expressed his strong opposition over the use of the transcript and over what he claimed was a comment by the judge to a lawyer for the panel at the end of the hearing of that matter regarding the use of transcript.

He added that the court should use the Digital Audio Recording rather than the transcript.

In reply to Mr Burke’s complaints, Hugh McDowell BL, for the panel, said that one side having a stenographer in proceedings and supplying the court with a transcript of the hearing was perfectly normal arrangement, adding there is plenty of law to support that contention.

Rejecting Mr Burke’s complaints, counsel said that following the hearing his side had offered to share the transcript with Mr Burke, if he was prepared to pay half of the €2,400 costs.

That offer was not taken up, counsel said, who added that in order to ease matters, his client was now prepared to provide Mr Burke with a copy of the transcript for no fee.

After considering submissions from both sides, Mr Justice Dignam said that he did not need to use the transcript of the hearing.

The judge said that his own notes of those proceedings were adequate.

He would be basing his decision on those notes, the judge added.

In what was at times a tetchy exchange involving the court and the teacher, the judge, who at one stage warned Mr Burke “not to interrupt” him, said that at all times during last month’s hearing he had spoken in open court.

He went to describe Mr Burke’s remarks as being utterly without foundation, lacking in substance and said they were on the verge of being contemptuous.

In reply, Mr Burke said that the judge’s comments about his submissions were “outrageous”.

In that action Mr Burke, whose dismissal from Wilson’s Hospital has been stayed pending the appeal, claims Kieran Christie, general secretary of Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI), should be excluded, or recuse himself, from the appeals panel because of he has supported the “transgender ideology” since 2016.

In his action against the panel Mr Burke also seeks a declaration that the inclusion of Mr Christie was unfair, unreasonable and unlawful.

Mr Christie denies the claims and argues that Mr Burke has wrongly based his claim of bias from the fact that Mr Christie has accepted the law of the land on gender recognition.

Lawyers for the appeals panel claim that Mr Burke failed to show there has been any statement made by Mr Christie that would demonstrate prejudice, hostility or dislike or that any position taken by ASTI would effectively decide the appeal.

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