Enoch Burke secures temporary injunction to halt hearing of appeal against school dismissal

Enoch Burke was dismissed by the Co. Westmeath-based school's board of management earlier this year. File picture: Collins Courts

Enoch Burke has been granted a temporary High Court injunction restraining the hearing of his appeal against his dismissal from his job as a teacher at Wilson's Hospital Secondary School.

Mr Burke was dismissed by the Co Westmeath-based school's board of management earlier this year.

His appeal against that decision was due to be heard by a three-person Teacher's Disciplinary Panel on Friday morning at a hotel in Tullamore, Co Offaly.

However, in proceedings brought against the members of the panel, Mr Burke claims that the proposed hearing of the appeal was flawed and should be halted.

Grounds for injunction

Mr Burke sought the order on grounds that one of the panel members, ASTI General Secretary Mr Kieran Christie, should have, but has declined to, recuse himself from hearing the matter.

Mr Christie, it is claimed by Mr Burke, is supportive of a policy that promotes the recognition of transgender issues in Irish schools.

He also claimed that he had not been provided with an audio/video clip contained on a WhatsApp message allegedly exchanged between the Wilson Hospital's former principal Niamh McShane and the chairman of the school's board Mr John Rogers.

He claimed the message was a recording of a school service in 2022, where he publicly outlined his objections to a direction by the school to call a student at the school by a different name and the pronoun 'they'.

He claims that clip forms an important part of the allegations against him that resulted in his dismissal and says that he should have been given it by the school in advance of the hearing of the appeal.

Ruling

In a ruling on Thursday afternoon, Ms Justice Eileen Robers ruled that Mr Burke had raised fair issues in his application, and was therefore entitled to a temporary injunction halting the hearing of the appeal.

The injunction, which was granted on an ex-parte basis, will return before the High Court next week.