Ireland Jails Christian Teacher Who ‘Misgendered’ Transgender Student

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

DUBLIN (Worthy News) – An Irish Christian teacher has been jailed again for appearing at a central Ireland school despite being dismissed over “misgendering” a transgender student.

Enoch Burke, citing his Christian faith, refused to use a transgender student’s preferred name and pronouns and publicly explained his beliefs. That stance prompted disciplinary action by Wilson’s Hospital School, a private Church of Ireland secondary boarding school in Multyfarnham, a village in County Westmeath, west of Dublin.

Since the 2022 transgender-related dispute, Burke has spent more than 560 days behind bars — much of it in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin — after being detained on multiple occasions for contempt of court and breaching an order barring him from returning to his former workplace.

In video footage obtained by Worthy News, Burke showed his January 19 arrest by Irish police at the school gates.

While being led to an awaiting police vehicle, the teacher said he was effectively imprisoned “for refusing to affirm transgender ideology.”

COURT: ‘JAILING FOR CONTEMPT, NOT BELIEF’

However, the court has denied that Burke’s Christian faith or his views on transgender issues were the reason for his detention. Judges said he violated a court injunction preventing him from trespassing on the school’s premises.

Burke continued to turn up at the school and was initially jailed in September 2022 for ignoring the court order.

He has been in and out of prison ever since, with the teacher jailed for a fourth time in November 2025.

He was released on January 14 “to allow him time to prepare for another hearing,” said the Courts Service of Ireland, before a disciplinary appeals panel reviewing his dismissal.

Yet Burke was sent back to prison by the High Court for a fifth time on January 19 “for breaching the court order” by appearing at the school on January 15 and January 16, the Courts Service added.

TEACHER’S SUPPORTERS SEE IDEOLOGY AT WORK

Burke and his supporters maintain the case reflects transgender ideology being forced upon schools and society, despite Ireland’s Christian heritage.

However, “I want to reiterate that Mr. Burke has been imprisoned for contempt of court — not for his religious beliefs,” said the latest judgment, attributed to Justice Brian Cregan.

“As I have always said, Mr. Burke is free to proclaim his objections to transgenderism from the rooftops,” the judge added, stressing the issue remained compliance with the court order.

Burke said the courts had “utterly failed” to uphold his constitutional rights, and further legal battles are expected.

MOUNTJOY PRISON HOLDS HIGH-PROFILE INMATES

Mountjoy Prison, where Burke has spent much of his detention, is one of Ireland’s main closed, high-security prisons in Dublin and has long housed some of the country’s most prominent criminal and political prisoners.

The arrest also comes after a related dispute in nearby Britain, where a British nurse who faced possible dismissal for using male pronouns in reference to a transgender prisoner claiming to be a woman was reinstated earlier this month following a legal battle.

Jennifer Melle, 40, received a written warning after an incident in May 2024 at St Helier Hospital, part of the National Health Service (NHS) in south London near Surrey, a county on the capital’s southern outskirts.

Several sources said the dispute involved a transgender inmate convicted of sexually abusing children, who became upset after Melle referred to the patient as “Mr.” during a clinical conversation about catheter use.

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