© Niall Carson/Getty ImagesIrish teacher Enoch Burke
Enoch Burke, formerly a teacher of history and German at Wilson's Hospital School in County Westmeath, has been at the center of a prolonged legal and ethical dispute since 2022. Burke was suspended after he opposed the school principal's request to refer to a 'transitioning' student by a new name and the pronoun "they."
Following a hearing on Friday, the High Court of Ireland will be asked to appoint a receiver to recover unpaid fines from Burke's salary. If approved, the move would enable authorities to collect €79,100 - an amount he has accrued through daily €700 fines for showing up at Wilson's Hospital School in defiance of court orders to stay away.
The teacher, who has an evangelical Christian background, had repeatedly failed to heed a court order barring him from entering the grounds of the school.
"I teach everyone who's in front of me. I teach every single student," Burke told SkyNews last year. "But when I am commanded, when I'm told that I can't have my religious belief anymore, when I'm told I have to confess belief in transgenderism, instead of my simple belief, which is male and female, that's just a breach simply of my rights."
Although suspended with full pay in May 2022 pending an investigation into alleged misconduct, Burke continued to show up at the school, leading to his imprisonment for contempt of court in September 2022. To date, he has spent a total of 512 days in jail across three separate periods for defying court orders.
Despite being dismissed from the school, Burke continues to receive his salary under administrative leave while his appeal over his termination is still pending.
Recently, Justice David Nolan doubled Burke's daily fine to €1,400 after it was revealed that he had entered the school through a student entrance and attempted to join a school assembly.
Nolan said by his rough calculations, Burke owes around €190,000 so far as a result of a €700 a day fine imposed on him by the court in January 2023.
The teacher has accused the courts of failing to recognize his constitutional right to religious freedom, and said that these rights were breached when he was asked to refer to a student as they/them.
According to its website, "Wilson's Hospital School is, to this day, a place where true love of knowledge makes all study a discovery and joy. Our school maintains a distinctive Church of Ireland ethos, fostering Christian practice and teaching, promoting dignity and respect for the individual and committed to the provision of a caring family atmosphere in which education can flourish."
Reader Comments
How dare they care about people.The best way to solve the problem is by population reduction methods.
What principles are being removed by someone using the word they instead of he? It's an addition of two letters and changes nothing.
The teacher is causing principles to be removed and discarded. Why should a teacher be allowed to disrespect a child's wish to be addressed a certain way?
It's all a sorry mess, and it seems to be on the verge of being discarded - hopefully soon. People suffering any kind of mental illness deserve all the support and kindness we can give, but enabling an illness is not supportive or kind. Just the opposite.
Paraphilia is defined as a sexual interest in anything other than a legally consenting human partner.
You dont get to decide what they need because you aren't a doctor and have never been to medical school. When the doctor says they need to be referred to as they then thats what you do if you want to keep your job.
Instead of trying to be a doctor which you have zero training in, how about you just go along with their wishes, that is until you do become a doctor.
It isn't like their life isn't already difficult enough from not feeling like they belong, you don't have to make any harder. It's not something that can be fixed by making them pretend like it's not there because then they end up killing themselves after getting tired of pretending to be something they aren't.
Someone who has a mental illness you don't say "Hey why don't you just ignore it and pretend to be normal." It doesn't work like that.
However, I still maintain that enabling a mental illness doesn't solve the problem. And saying that the only other option is to pretend the problem doesn't exist is creating a false dichotomy.
I have no problem calling Stan Jan or he they if they ask me to.
My little girl had me call her princess for awhile, and I obliged, until she grew out of it. People that heard me call her that out in public didn't believe she was an actual princess.
What I actually wanted to say is that I very much agree that they are way to fixated on their sexuality. I think it is demented. I think they should just get over themselves, but they think life is all about "selfness."
Disney trained them to think that way when they were kids, and so did most of the media in general, churches too.
I think the moral of every single Disney feature is ultimately selfishness. They are constantly being told to look inward to find god, believe in yourself, trust in your self, self, self, self.
It's the same thing with the Satanic Church, coincidentally...I think they actually re-branded themselves as "Humanists" a while back, but I stopped following them along time ago. That was one of the Names for it that Anton LaVey considered, before just going with the creepy devil goat thing....anyway, it's also very "Just believe in yourself, you are god, etc."
Disney does the same shit, and always did, so I'm not surprised so many people are now so fixated on their own grandeur, but the sexual mutilation is way over the top, gruesome, and hard to actually believe is really happening, and to much applause too. It's like the Twilight Zone out there, or some other equally horrific sci-fi universe. It unbelievable.
Do you know who else is fixated on their identity when they meet people? Deaf people. So if they didn't tell you they were deaf you would think they were quite rude for not responding to you. Are you going to ask when you meet someone deaf "To get over themselves?" The nerve of deaf people telling you their deaf and making it a big part of themselves. Selfish deaf pricks if you ask me. 🤣
I do have to agree you should be an expert on selfishness tho.
You talk about being fixated on grandeur and people being fixated on themselves when you are the definition of those quite hypocritical. What do you think refusing to get vaccinated is? BEING SELFISH. Or a pussy. Whichever.
Up next, left is right, right is left, evil good and good evil.
Stand-by.
Love your neighbor as yourself. J.C.
Your materialistic perspective, though it no doubt serves you in some ways, puts a serious ceiling on your understanding. If you can come to question the adequacy of that, you'll be opening doors to further realization.
So how is using they any different? It has no bearing on the understanding of a person being referenced.
I don't think you understand half the words you use because I have given no indication of being materialistic.
Pronouns are not a determining factor of morals, ethics or order.
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[Link] I ain't gonna do it - if she is turtle let her "bale" bale her out themselves.....
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crazy humans....lost touch with what it means to be human - a women and a man.
bale"enclosure" under the sand about I don't know 25 meters give or take from the normal shore on average given high and low tides - then momma goes back to the ocean and her bale - I know - cause I've literally seen sea turtles just born heading to the waves in North Carolina on the coast - that lady ain't no turtle - I don't give a shit how she "identifies" - keep it in the bedroom honey - and do your damn job.It was Oak Island I remember this the most - but Topsail as well if memory serves - more than once for sure - it is a sight to see real time - usually in the dark of the day......(early morning or late in the starry sky!).
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She ain't no turtle and eff this bs. It is offensive to real turtles, and to men and women and vice versa.
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Sorry, Ms. Holt, but you represent nothing and no one except your unfortunate self.