The Christian teacher has spent time in jail and faced persecution after refusing to use preferred pronouns for a gender-confused student in 2022.
DUBLIN (LifeSiteNews) — The Irish High Court ordered embattled Christian teacher Enoch Burke’s bank account to be frozen while his unpaid court fees are collected.
On Tuesday, March 18, Mr. Justice David Nolan ordered a conditional garnishee over Burke’s bank account, temporarily freezing it, and appointed a creditor to collect the €79,100 ($86,000 USD) the former teacher has been fined from his salary. Burke has faced intense persecution since he refused to address a male student by his preferred pronouns.
The order comes after the state had asked the High Court earlier this month to appoint a receiver to collect Burke’s outstanding fines from his salary.
“Burke has been repeatedly fined, and jailed, after he refused to use they/them pronouns for a transgender student back in 2022. This is truly horrific,” one X user reacted to the court’s decision.
Burke’s case began in the summer of 2022. A teacher of German, history, and politics at a Church of Ireland school, he refused to address a male student – reportedly in the process of “transitioning” – as a girl and also refused to use the pronoun “they.”
Burke defied the school principal’s order to use the “transgender” pronoun and was subsequently placed on paid administrative leave on August 22, 2022, while the school board held a disciplinary process. After Burke ignored this and continued to attend the school, he was then handed an interim order on August 30 to prevent him from entering the school that he also ignored.
School authorities then summoned the police and Burke was arrested for contempt of court on September 5, 2022, while sitting in an empty classroom in the school. He was sentenced to jail for an unspecified period until he purged his contempt of court or the court decreed otherwise.
“Transgenderism is against my Christian belief. It is contrary to the scriptures, contrary to the ethos of the Church of Ireland and of my school,” the teacher said during his 2022 sentencing. “I love my school, with its motto Res Non Verba, actions not words, but I am here today because I said I would not call a boy a girl.”
Days before Christmas 2022, he was released by the High Court after the judge argued that Burke was using his imprisonment for his own ends.
At the time of his 2022 release, Burke was warned he would be fined €700 a day if he refused to obey the court injunction barring him from the school.
In January 2023, the school dismissed Burke from his employment. After Burke continued to appear at the school, he was jailed in September 2023 once again, with the official reason being his refusal to abide by the court order not to appear at the school.
On June 28, 2024, he was released from jail at the start of the summer term holidays. His release was not a pardon or a removal of the court order, with the judge warning Burke he would return to prison if he broke the court order – namely, if he returned to the school.
On September 2, 2024, Burke was arrested again after returning to Wilson’s Hospital School, reportedly every day since the start of term on August 22.
Burke’s case has garnered international attention, with Elon Musk and others offering their support for the persecuted teacher.
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