Disciplinary panel to contest Enoch Burke’s attempt to further restrain dismissal appeal hearing

A teacher’s disciplinary appeal panel is to contest Enoch Burke’s attempt to prevent the hearing of his appeal against his dismissal from a Co Westmeath school from proceeding, the High Court has heard.

Mr Burke, from Castlebar, Co Mayo, was dismissed from his teaching job at Wilson’s Hospital School by the board of management for alleged gross misconduct earlier this years. He denies that claim and his appeal against his dismissal was due to be heard by a three-person panel last week.

However, the hearing did not proceed as Mr Burke obtained a temporary High Court order restraining the panel from considering the matter. Ms Justice Eileen Roberts granted the injunction after finding that he had raised a fair issue to be tried.

When the case returned to court on Tuesday, Padraic Lyons SC, with Hugh McDowell BL, for the appeal panel, told Mr Justice Brian O’Moore his client intends to oppose Mr Burke’s attempt to extend the injunction.

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Video clip

Mr Burke alleged there was a failure by the school to provide him with certain information contained in a video clip that is relevant to the case. Mr Lyons said developments have occurred in relation to this and it is hoped this element can be resolved without the court’s assistance.

The panel will contest Mr Burke’s second legal ground, which seeks to restrain the appeal over his apprehension that one of the panel members, Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) general secretary Kieran Christie, would be biased against the teacher.

Representing himself, Mr Burke stressed an urgency to the matter. He had no objections to the appeal panel’s request for time to respond to his application. He added that he is awaiting contact from the respondent in relation to the issue concerning the video clip.

Mr Justice O’Moore said he hopes the matter could be heard before the end of the current legal term in late July. He provisionally scheduled the hearing of Mr Burke’s request for a longer injunction (to remain in place until the wider proceedings are resolved) to take place later this month.

The judge also said the interim injunction granted last week had expired and was to be replaced with undertakings in the same terms given by the panel.

In his action against the three members of the panel - Sean Ó Longáin, Mr Christie and Jack Cleary - Mr Burke claims the proposed hearing is flawed and should be halted

Not suitable

Mr Christie, who is the union representative on the panel, should have, but has declined to, recuse himself from hearing the matter, he claims. Mr Burke alleges Mr Christie is not suitable to hear the appeal and is supportive of a policy that promotes the recognition of transgenderism in Irish schools.

Under Mr Christie’s leadership, the ASTI has “unequivocally” advised schools to accept and use transgender pronouns, Mr Burke claims.

This, he says, is important given that his dispute with the school centres around his refusal to comply with a direction to refer to a student by a different name and to use the pronoun “they”. This goes against his Christian beliefs, he says.

He also alleges neither he nor the panel have been provided with an audio clip that was allegedly exchanged between Wilson’s Hospital former principal Niamh McShane and the chairman of the school’s board, John Rogers.

He claims the message was a recording of a school service last year where he publicly outlined his objections to a direction by the school to call a male student at the school by a different name and to use the pronoun ‘they’.

Enormous weight

The clip is important, he claims, as the school placed enormous weight on what happened at that event when it commenced the disciplinary proceedings against him that resulted in his dismissal. The failure to provide the clip in advance of the appeal hearing amounts to a breach of fair procedures and natural justice, he claims.

The school is a notice party to the application but, the court heard, it does not intend to take part in the proceedings.

Wilson’s Hospital obtained an injunction last August restraining Mr Burke, a fundamentalist Christian, from attending at its premises pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing against him.

Mr Burke continued to show up at the school and was jailed for 108 days for contempt of a court order. He was released shortly before Christmas and was warned about his future conduct. He returned to the school premises in January, causing the High Court to impose a daily €700 fine on him for continued breach of the order.