Enoch Burke is set to face more jail time after his former employer, Wilson's Hospital School launched a fresh application to the High Court, accusing him of trespassing at the school.
This comes after Mr Burke was dismissed from the school for gross misconduct in May. But he still insists that he was not validly dismissed from his job, and is continuing to fight for reinstatement through the courts.
In the application, Mr Justice Brian Cregan was told by lawyers that Mr Burke had breached a court order by trespassing on many occasions since the beginning of the academic year. Counsel for the school's board have insisted that the school had done "all in its power" not to return the courts on this matter, having contacted Gardaí and employing security personnel at the school premises, per the Irish Examiner.
While they did acknowledge that Mr Burke had remained outside the school gates over his protest, they said that the former schoolteacher appeared to change his mind and then proceeded to trespass on the school's premises over the past month.
Back in August, the Irish Independent had reported that Mr Burke was brought to the school by a relative, and walked from the road up the avenue to the school building before entering it. Wilson's Hospital school, had opened for two hours on Thursday afternoon for the induction of new students.
Counsel for the school's board, Rosemary Mallon had said that the school was then placed in an "invidious" position, like it had been since the long running feud began.
The school were subsequently granted permission by the judge to serve Enoch Burke with its application for his attachment and committal to prison over his contempt of court order. This case will resume next week.
In 2022, Enoch Burke was suspended, having publicly clashed with management over a direction that a transgender child can be called by a new name and they/them pronouns. The following January, he was sacked from his job following several incidents, including interrupting a church service and a row with the then principal.
Mr Burke had spent more than 700 days in prison across different spells since then, which have arisen from his contempt of court order. He was released from prison following orders by Mr Justice Brian Cregan, despite refusing to assure the court that he would not trespass at the school.
