BURKE: I WON’T PAY €700 PROTEST PENALTY
Sacked teacher back at school but calls on judge not to impose fine
SACKED transgender row teacher Enoch Burke vowed he will not pay the €700 a day court fine imposed on him as he returned to the school where he was dismissed last week.
But he begged High Court judge Mr Justice Brian O’moore to reconsider the imposition of the fine, claiming he was being penalised for his opposition on religious grounds to transgenderism.
The judge has repeatedly stated that the penalties imposed on Mr Burke, first imprisonment and now fines, were due to his defiance of court orders which simply require him to stay away from Wilson’s Hospital School. The orders did not impinge on Mr Burke’s religious beliefs in any way, the judge said.
The fine kicked in from 2pm yesterday after the sacked teacher missed a deadline set by the judge for the purging of his contempt.
Instead of coming to the High Court, Mr Burke again turned up at the school near Multyfarnham, Co Westmeath.
He has indicated he will not purge his contempt or pay the €700 a day fine the High Court has imposed on him for defying a court order.
Mr Burke said: “I would really just say to Judge Brian O’moore, I would beg him to reconsider his ruling.”
He said his religious views were protected by the Constitution and that judges were “not above the law”.
Asked by reporters if he would pay the
fine, Mr Burke said: “I don’t believe I should pay it. I am putting it in the nicest possible way.
“A fine is a punishment in which somebody is ordered to pay a sum of money for something they have done that is illegal or a rule they have broken.
“And I have not done anything illegal. I have not broken any rules.
“But I can tell you who has broken the rules.
“We are in a very serious place in this country if judges in one of the highest courts in the land can pass laws fining people for the expression of their religious belief.”