Enoch Burke informed appeal against injunctions may not proceed if teacher remains in contempt of court orders to stay away from Co Westmeath School

Mr Justice Birmingham's statement was made hours after Mr Burke had again been physically removed from a courtroom by members of An Garda Siochana for interrupting proceedings before a Mr Justice Brian O'Moore.

Mr Justice Birmingham's comments were made days before Mr Burke's appeal against various orders and decision made by the High Court last September, including the injunction preventing him from attending at the School where had been employed as a History and German teacher, is due to commence.

The appeal which is due to proceed on Thursday forms part of Mr Burke's on going legal dispute with the school which suspended, before taking a decision to dismiss him from his role.

Mr Burke claims that he has been wrongfully dismissed and suspended from his role.

He claims the school has breached his rights after sanctioning him over his refusal to comply with a direction from the school to refer to a student who wishes to transition by a different pronoun. 

In advance of his appeal Mr Burke and lawyers for the Co Westmeath school were directed to appear before the CoA comprised the President of the Court George Birmingham, Mr Justice John Edwards and Ms Justice Marie Whelan.

Mr Justice Birmingham said that he wished to make a number of points to the parties about the appeal in advance of Thursday's hearing.

He said that the hearing of the appeal should be concluded in one day, otherwise it could take some time before the same panel of judges could be reconvened to hear the balance of the matter.

The judge asked the parties to reach an agreement on how the time should be allocated.  

The judge also said that the court may not entertain the appeal.

This, Mr Justice Birmingham said, was because Mr Burke remains in contempt of last September's court order directing him to stay away from the school.

Mr Justice Birmingham said that Mr Burke's ongoing contempt, as well as his possible contempt after the hearing of the appeal before a judgement is delivered was something the CoA would have to take account of.

The Judge said that a scenario where somebody who was appealing a court order, who themselves had not obeyed those orders would be a very "imbalanced situation".

It was one which the court "could not countenance," he added.

Mr Burke spent 108 days in Mountjoy Prison after he refused to purge his contempt and agree to stay away from the school. He was released without purging his contempt before Christmas.

However he returned to the school premises in early January, resulting in the High Court imposing a fine of €700 for every day he remains in contempt.

When concluding his remarks Mr Justice Birmingham said that the CoA did not want to hear from the parties on the issues raised by it at this point in time.

The judge asked the sides simply to consider and reflect on the court's comments in advance of Thursday's hearing, before rising for the day.

Neither lawyers for the school nor Mr Burke, who was accompanied to the CoA by his parents and two of his siblings made any comment during the brief hearing before the CoA. 

On Monday morning Mr Justice Brian O'Moore directed members of An Garda Siochana to physically remove Mr Burke, who was accompanied in Court 3 in the Four Courts by his parents Martina and Sean and his sister Ammi, after the teacher disrupted the call over of the chancery list.

The Gardai were called on to take action after the judge refused to allow Mr Burke to raise an issue in part of his on-going legal battle with Wilson's Hospital School, which suspended and purportedly dismissed him from his job.

It was the second time in as many sittings of the court that the judge has had the get the Garda to intervene.

On Friday Mr Burke and his sister were removed by Gardai also for interrupting that sitting of the court.    

On Monday Mr Burke returned to the courtroom and sought to raise his concerns over the school's application to correct certain statements made in a document it is relying on as part of its on-going legal action against him.

He said he was seeking clarification on directions emailed to him by the judge on Friday afternoon, after he and his sister had been removed from the courtroom regarding the school's application to file corrective affidavits due to errors in statements sworn in the proceedings, on the school's behalf.

In reply the judge said Mr Burke's case was not listed before the court, and the judge said that the Co Mayo teacher had neither informed the court registrar nor had obtained the proper court document that would allow him to raise the matter with the court.  

Mr Burke insisted on being heard, resulting in an exchange between the judge and the Burke family that became heated.

Mr Burke then refused to comply with the judge's direction to not talk over him.

When the Judge made it clear that the matter was not being heard members of the Burke family were highly critical of the court.

Mr Burke was warned several times by the judge that if he did not cease talking, he would be removed from the courtroom. 

"You are not in charge of the list, " the judge told Mr Burke, who was reminded that was Mr Justice O'Moore's job. Mr Burke persisted, and continued to speak over the judge.

Eventually three members of an Garda Siochana physically removed Mr Burke from the courtroom.

Ammi Burke continued to loudly berate the judge, accusing him of treating the school "very differently" to her brother.

The Judge, noting that she is a qualified lawyer, reminded her that she "no right of audience."

Mr Burke's mother Martina Burke was also highly critical of Mr Justice O'Moore, and the Gardai.

"God knows about your wickedness," she said, adding that the court was "corrupt".

The Gardai, she said, had no right to remove her son from the courtroom.

After Enoch was removed by the Gardai, the other family members left the court of their own accord.

Mr Justice O'Moore then resumed the busy call over of the list, and apologised to all other parties present in the courtroom for the disruption caused to the administration of justice. 

It was "intolerable" that people should have to go through that regrettable experience, he added. 

Mr Burke's concerns relate to a recent application before the High Court court, lawyers for the school's board of management said it wants to correct issues including statements that a meeting last year at Wilson's Hospital concerning the wishes of a student who wishes to transition had been attended by that student's parents, where a request was made that the student be referred to by a different pronoun and name than before.

This is incorrect, the school says as the meeting had only been attended by one of the student's parents.

In addition, counsel said, that it had been stated that the meeting had also been attended by the school's then principal Niamh McShane.

This was also inaccurate, the school said.

Two other staff members were present for the duration of that meeting while principal, who was aware of the meeting was only in attendance for a brief period, the school claims. 

Mr Burke was informed of the school's application to correct the inaccuracies before the matter returns before the court.  

Mr Justice O'Moore in a recent determination has made various directions in regards to the corrective affidavits, and has directed the parties to raise the matter before the various judges who considered the sworn statements when the school's application against Mr Burke went before them last September.