Enoch Burke has arrived outside Wilson’s Hospital School for the fifth consecutive school day despite a €700-a-day fine imposed on him by the High Court for defying a court order.
r Burke arrived outside the Westmeath school, near Multyfarnham, at around 8.45am this morning.
Last week, the schoolteacher begged 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 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 his religious beliefs in any way, the judge had said.
Leaving the school grounds on Friday, 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 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.
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“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.”
