A High Court judge has given the green light for the Attorney General to bring an application “in the public interest” to enforce the payment of almost €80,000 in fines owed by teacher Enoch Burke.
Mr Justice David Nolan on Friday granted liberty for Rossa Fanning to move an application for a garnishee order allowing for the fines owed to be drawn from Mr Burke’s salary.
Mr Burke accumulated the fines over his continued failure to abide by court orders prohibiting him from attending at Wilson’s Hospital School, in Multyfarnham, Co Westmeath.
Mr Burke’s salary, which is estimated to be in the region of €48,000, is still being paid by the Department of Education, pending his appeal against his dismissal from Wilson’s Hospital School.
Elon Musk’s Irish friends and their influence on the powerful billionaire
Hand found on grounds of Dublin primary school ‘belonged to boy (12) injured in gas canister explosion’
My sister is the only woman from her secondary school class not living in Australia, and she emigrated to Switzerland
Ireland’s newest hotel: ‘Now all we need is customers’
In his judgment, Mr Justice Nolan also directed that Mr Burke appear before the court to present evidence in relation to all his assets and income, so that the court can consider increasing the fine to be paid. Friday’s order was granted on a conditional basis, to allow for Mr Burke to make submissions on his means.
The judge reiterated his intention to increase the daily fine rate from €700 to €1,400 per day.
Mr Justice Nolan’s order comes after Mr Burke continued to attend at Wilson’s Hospital School following his release from Mountjoy Prison over Christmas. He has spent more than 500 days in jail for refusing to abide by a court order to stay away from the school premises.
Mr Justice Nolan said he was satisfied that the Attorney General is the appropriate party to move a garnishee order “in the public interest”. This is in circumstances where the plaintiff, the school, was not minded to bring an application to enforce the court fines.
Mr Justice Nolan said it was clear to him that Mr Burke “has no intention” of abiding by court orders, and seems to believe that enforcement action “is an attempt to force him to recognise or approve of matters which he regards as abhorrent to his religious beliefs”.
The judge said this was “simply not the case” – rather, the court seeks to ensure that he, and all other citizens, “abide by the rule of law”.
When the matter was before the court in January, Mr Burke wrote to the court reiterating his contention that the courts have denied him his constitutional rights to freedom of conscience, and the free profession and practice of religion.
He claimed he was imprisoned for maintaining his Christian religious belief by taking a stand against “transgenderism” and refusing to use “they/them” pronouns for a pupil.
The history and German teacher has been embroiled in a long-running legal saga with the school since 2022 – one that has “preoccupied the nation for far too long”, Mr Justice Nolan said in his judgment. “[Mr Burke] and others seem to thrive on the publicity and think by so acting, they are forwarding their cause,” he said.
