Enoch Burke has become one of the most talked-about figures in Ireland’s courts - a teacher turned serial litigant whose refusal to accept rulings has made headlines from Wilson’s Hospital School to Mountjoy Prison. 

And the saga shows no sign of slowing. At a High Court hearing just last week, Mr Justice David Nolan ordered Burke to pay a total of €225,000 in fines for repeatedly breaching a court order directing him to stay away from the school where he once worked. The judge also increased the daily fine to €2,000, after Wilson’s Hospital School applied to have Burke arrested and jailed again for continuing to appear at the campus despite the injunction. 

Suspended in 2022 after row about the school’s request to use a transgender student’s chosen pronouns, Burke’s battle with the school has spiralled into a long-running confrontation with the Irish legal system. He’s been jailed for contempt of court, had his salary and bank accounts seized, and insists his fight is about freedom of religion and free expression. 

So what’s really at the heart of this case - a clash over pronouns and belief, or a challenge to the authority of the courts themselves? How does contempt of court actually work, and why was Burke released from Mountjoy without “purging” that contempt? And when judges suggest a school might need private security to keep someone out, what does that say about the limits of judicial power in practice? 

In today’s podcast, Ciara Doherty speaks with barrister Peter Leonard, co-host of The First Court legal podcast, to explore the Enoch Burke saga from start to the latest developments. From the school gates in Westmeath to the High Court in Dublin, this is a story about the rule of law, the resilience of institutions, and what happens when one man simply refuses to comply. 

🎙️ Peter Leonard – The Fifth Court Podcast: https://www.thefifthcourt.com/