Enoch Burke

[Neish]

His family have wriggled their way into a post bowl of shamrock bit of dinner with dignitaries stateside and lost their shoes in the ensuing ruckus.

They were protesting outside before, now the bouncers had one job there. One.

https://www.rte.ie/news/us/2025/0314/1502020-burke-us/

They attempted to hold a press conference outside after but quickly realised it was only a few Irish press present and jogged on.

Think they thought their case would be taken up by press in the so called land of the free, but the Burkes and just insignificant dot in the long, long list of right wing christian fanatical sects that in the USA

[CraftyToePoke]

They attempted to hold a press conference outside after but quickly realised it was only a few Irish press present and jogged on.

Think they thought their case would be taken up by press in the so called land of the free, but the Burkes and just insignificant dot in the long, long list of right wing christian fanatical sects that in the USA

Saw that yes, it was a miscalculation certainly, but the greater miscalculation was thinking the American press would be waiting thronged outside the Patricks Day din dins in the first place.
They weren't & why would they be.

[Eminence Grise]

Receiver appointed to collect unpaid fines from Enoch Burke's salary (https://www.rte.ie/news/courts/2025/0318/1502691-enoch-burke-court/)

The High Court has appointed a receiver to collect €80k in unpaid fines from his salary - and frozen his bank account. Not been a good week for the family, all told.

[pineapple stu]

Have to say I didn't know you could appoint a receiver to a person (as opposed to a company).

Bit mental that he's still receiving a salary though - I presume that's some sort of due process thing at this stage?

[Mr A]

Receiver appointed to collect unpaid fines from Enoch Burke's salary (https://www.rte.ie/news/courts/2025/0318/1502691-enoch-burke-court/)

The High Court has appointed a receiver to collect €80k in unpaid fines from his salary - and frozen his bank account. Not been a good week for the family, all told.

Great to see. Bit mad that he has not been formally dismissed yet which is disappointing, but good that there is a move to recoup some of the crazy money this self obsessed danger has cost the state.

[John83]

Have to say I didn't know you could appoint a receiver to a person (as opposed to a company).

Bit mental that he's still receiving a salary though - I presume that's some sort of due process thing at this stage?
The way I heard it went like this. They can't stop his pay until his labour court case has been heard, and the labour court can't hear his case because he's in prison. Catch-22, it's the best one they have.

I don't know why he can't be just be carted by the prison service to the labour court for his hearings there. And he's been out for a few months now anyway.

[Mr A]

He's out? I thought he was locked up again after Christmas?

[pineapple stu]

The way I heard it went like this. They can't stop his pay until his labour court case has been heard, and the labour court can't hear his case because he's in prison. Catch-22, it's the best one they have.

I don't know why he can't be just be carted by the prison service to the labour court for his hearings there. And he's been out for a few months now anyway.

At this stage, surely it's easier to sack him for the various distribute issues and take the hit in a WRC hearing?

Can't be more expensive

[John83]

He's out? I thought he was locked up again after Christmas?
I may well have lost track. He's up and down like the Assyrian Empire.


At this stage, surely it's easier to sack him for the various distribute issues and take the hit in a WRC hearing?

Can't be more expensive
I was under the impression their hands were tied once the appeal was lodged, but I'm not well versed in the law there.

[elatedscum]

i read a few months ago that he's appealing an appeal of an appeal.

1. Appealed his job dismissal
2. Appealed the make-up of the panel that would hear his job dismissal appeal because he claimed Kieran Christie was biased. This was a high court appeal. Lost
3. Has now appealed that ruling to the Appeals Court

So that's got to be heard - and if he loses there, he'll try take it to the supreme court - they don't have to hear it, but they might cause you could say "the decision involves a matter of general public importance"

Then if/when he loses that, they can then have the appeal. I'd say honestly, we're could be another 2-3 years away from him actually losing his job.

[pineapple stu]

I suppose if his salary starts getting taken off him to pay for his fines, then that balances out in the end of the day.

[elatedscum]

there were all these other adjacent things that caused delays. like there was an application to the high court to set aside the permanent injunction. the matter was adjourned to allow the school to make legal submissions on the issue of whether a High Court judge had jurisdiction to set aside a decision of another High Court judge. they're using every tactic imaginable to delay, obfuscate and do whatever they can to stop the processes, including disruptions in court etc. etc.

[Mr A]

I think one issue is his brother is the spit of him and posts under Enoch's twitter account (and weirdly they often seem to pay to get them seen by people). He'll probably get out for the Easter Holidays then get locked up again on the first day back when he turns up at the school again.

There is an interesting question of how they fund all this.. the trip to the US etc and the just being about the place being muppets so much of the time.

[Neish]

Enoch is back outside the school again this week, claiming he is being persecuted for his religious beliefs. Which is completely false he is being held to account for his own self righteous and abusive behavior

[pineapple stu]

That is beyond mental. In a way, I can understand that the court system maybe isn't best served to deal with a guy whose crime is relatively low-level (shouting abuse at a head teacher; an internal disciplinary matter really), but who has an utterly unprecedented ability to refuse to engage in the matter.

Do you lock him up for life? It seems an absurdly disproportionate reaction. And yet there seems to genuinely be no realistic alternative.

I presume this means he's still not sacked yet? How can you drag out a simple case like that for so bloody long?

[Razors left peg]

That is beyond mental. In a way, I can understand that the court system maybe isn't best served to deal with a guy whose crime is relatively low-level (shouting abuse at a head teacher; an internal disciplinary matter really), but who has an utterly unprecedented ability to refuse to engage in the matter.

Do you lock him up for life? It seems an absurdly disproportionate reaction. And yet there seems to genuinely be no realistic alternative.

I presume this means he's still not sacked yet? How can you drag out a simple case like that for so bloody long?

Its pretty simple, you continue to lock him up while he continues ignore court orders. If that means he ends there for life that is his own decision

[sbgawa]

I think the fact that he hasnt been sacked yet is because while everyone keeps trying to deny it the root cause of his disruptive behaviour is him being told to do something agaisnt his religious beliefs and i think in the end based on myh experience of WRC and employee legal issues he will probably win.
That doesnt take away from the fact that he and hos family are (thinking hard how to not get foot.ie sued) a chalenge to deal with

[dahamsta]

They're a bunch of nutters. There, I've said it for you, although I appreciate your thinking of the lawyers. :)

[EalingGreen]

I don't even read this section, never mind feel prompted to post on it (loud cheers all round!), but I noticed "Enoch Burke" at the top of section on the front page and couldn't contain my curiosity.

For the boul Burkes don't just confine their mission to the Republic, but we even had the honour of a visit to Northern Ireland earlier this month - another protest, as usual.

Only this time he confronted a local Councillor, Mervyn Storey, as he entered church one Sunday, on the basis that in his capacity as Chairman of the NI Education Authority, Storey is "promoting transgender ideology" and "enforcing transgenderism in Northern Ireland".

As my dear old mother would have said: "That beats Banagher", for Storey, a political protege of the Rev. Ian Paisley, has long been a prominent DUP politician, including as a former Stormont Minister for some years. Moreover, like most leading DUP'ers, he is also a member of the fundamentalist Free Presbyterian Church (founded by Paisley)!

So that if you read his Wiki page, it states:
"As a young earth creationist, and a member of the "Council of Reference" of the creationist Caleb Foundation, he petitioned the then Northern Irish education minister, Caitríona Ruane, to have intelligent design taught in schools in Northern Ireland, as well as objecting to an exhibition on evolution in the Ulster Museum and signs at the Giants Causeway in his North Antrim constituency."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mervyn_Storey

I never in a million years would have thought it possible to "out-Prod" our own religious nutters here in NI, but Enoch certainly seems to be giving it a good go! :D

(More here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce834ynnlqgo )

[Eminence Grise]

Putting the mental in Christian fundamental...


I think the fact that he hasnt been sacked yet is because while everyone keeps trying to deny it the root cause of his disruptive behaviour is him being told to do something agaisnt his religious beliefs and i think in the end based on myh experience of WRC and employee legal issues he will probably win.

I think the wigs would make the case that an unreasonable response and subsequent actions is the issue, not beliefs.

Let's say he does win: what would look like? If a working relationship has irretrievably broken down, as it has here, the WRC won't move for reinstatement. A pay-off? That the state might garnish to pay his fines? That's a Pyrrhic victory.

I suppose they have to go through the legal process before fitness to practice can be considered, in case the latter prejudices the WRC's workings. But surely that's where this is heading. Suspension or removal from the Teaching Council register has to be an option, and I'd be sure there are complaints about his conduct lined up ready to be heard. Regardless, I think it's unlikely he'll ever teach in a school again.