Enoch Burke to return to jail after breaching High Court order

Enoch Burke. File picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

A High Court judge has ordered teacher Enoch Burke be returned to prison for repeatedly trespassing at a school in Co Westmeath.

Mr Burke was arrested this morning ahead of a scheduled appearance at the High Court in Dublin.

He will now return to prison after breaching an Irish court order instructing him not to trespass at Wilson’s Hospital School, Co Westmeath.

Mr Burke’s arrest was ordered by Mr Justice Brian Cregan on Friday.

In court last Friday, Rosemary Mallon BL, for the school, said Mr Burke was not in court for that afternoon's application because less than an hour earlier, he had been at the school.

Ms Mallon said at one point, he went past the boundary wall before a security man employed by the school stopped him from going any farther.

Ms Mallon said there was now a clear situation where yet again, a member of the regulated teaching profession, no matter what is said to him "continues to turn his back on the rule of law". This had, she said, resulted in an unprecedented impact on the work of the school.

If one thought about it, it meant the principal had to do things like re-engage security at short notice, address issues raised by pupils, parents and others who had to get in past protests at the gate and having to deal with solicitors for this case.

"None of that is what a principal should be doing and it is my submission and with great regret that yet again that I ask the Mr Burke be committed," she said.

The judge said he was satisfied Mr Burke had yet again breached a 2023 order permanently prohibiting him from trespassing on the school and he ordered he be brought before the court on Monday.