Enoch Burke, an Irish teacher, refused in 2022 to use the ideological “newspeak” promoted in schools by left-liberal circles within the woke movement and in line with trans and gender ideology. As a result, under questionable circumstances, he was stripped of his position and spent a total of 560 days in prison for… persistently showing up at school in order to perform his professional duties. Last Wednesday he was released again. However, he did not enjoy his freedom for long. Already on Monday, Burke was once again taken into police custody. This is another chapter in his conflict with a school system that promotes progressivism in place of the constitutional right to freedom of conscience.
On Monday, 19 January, a video was published on platform X showing the defiant Irish teacher, Enoch Burke, once again being forced into a police car by Gardaí (Ireland’s police force). The arrest took place in front of Wilson’s Hospital School, where the uncompromising Irishman had been employed.
This morning, Enoch Burke was arrested by the Garda, forcibly pushed into a police car, and transported to the District Court in Dublin. He refused to comply with the demand of headmistress Niamh McShane that he use the pronoun “they” when referring to a male student. No school principal has the right to make such a demand—this statement was issued on behalf of Enoch Burke via his account on the social media platform X.
A teacher of German and history, Enoch Burke spent more than 560 days in Mountjoy Prison. Judge Brian Cregan released Enoch last week, but on Monday had him brought back again.
Freedom of Conscience Versus the Woke Movement
Enoch Burke, a devout evangelical Christian, opposed the directive issued by the management of Wilson’s Hospital School in County Westmeath, where he worked. The beginning of the defiant teacher’s battle dates back to the end of August 2022. The then headmistress of the school, Niamh McShane, informed the school community that one of the students was in the process of a “gender transition” and therefore should be addressed accordingly. The school administration demanded that the teacher address the transgender student using a new name and the pronouns “they/them.” The teacher did not agree with his superiors’ decision, arguing that there are only two sexes and that such a requirement violated his freedom of conscience; as an evangelical Christian, he opposed transgenderism. He also stated that the headmistress’s demand was simply absurd.
After a public altercation, Wilson’s Hospital School placed Burke on paid administrative leave, during which the defiant teacher was to remain until disciplinary proceedings were initiated. Despite this, Burke continued to appear at the school every day, maintaining that he was at work. The school then sought a court injunction barring Burke from entering the premises. The defiant teacher ignored the ban. Burke’s refusal to comply with this requirement resulted in his dismissal from his position. The case went to court, and Burke was formally banned from entering the grounds of Wilson’s Hospital School. As a result of violating this ban, Burke was fined a total of €225,000, and over the past three years he has spent a total of 560 days behind bars.
From the outset, Enoch Burke challenged the decisions of the school and the courts, arguing that the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms to which he is entitled were being violated.
“This court is simply denying me my religious beliefs and my right to them. I am a Christian. My beliefs are Christian. According to them, there is a man and a woman; God created man and woman. I did not impose my religious beliefs on anyone; it is they who are trying to impose them on me and have ordered me to feed this poison to young people entrusted to my care,” Burke argued in September 2024.
Christian Teacher Without the Right to Fair Trial
The Irishman, who regained his freedom last Wednesday, had been in prison this time since the end of November 2025. However, already on Thursday he once again appeared at his workplace—Wilson’s Hospital School.
“I am coming here to do my job; I have always done so. (…) I should never have gone to prison at all. This is my workplace. This is where I teach,” Burke stated, addressing journalists and the large crowd gathered outside the school in County Westmeath.
Judge Brian Cregan, who released Burke last week, warned him that such behavior would result in re-arrest and that the uncompromising teacher was still prohibited from entering the premises of the school where he had worked. Judge Cregan released Burke from prison to allow him to prepare for another hearing, which was to take place against the Disciplinary Appeals Committee.
The Appeals Committee had already examined the issue of Burke’s dismissal for refusing to use liberal left-wing ideological newspeak. During the hearing on 13 December 2025, members of the committee blocked the examination of school witnesses by Burke’s legal representative, denied the defendant a fair proceeding, and abruptly ended the hearing without delivering closing statements.