2024-04-25 · Ireland
Enoch Burke's defamation case against Sunday Indo to be heard next week
Jailed teacher Enoch Burke has filed a High Court defamation claim against Mediahuis Ireland, the publisher of the Sunday Independent, over a 2022 article that was published while he was imprisoned for contempt of court. Burke, who was dismissed from Wilson's Hospital School for alleged gross misconduct, argues that the school's injunction to stay away from the school conflicted with his Christian beliefs, specifically a directive to refer to a student by a different name and use the pronoun 'they'. He has also appealed his dismissal, a separate matter that remains pending. The defamation action will be heard by a single judge, Mr Justice David Nolan, who has set a hearing date for next week. Burke's pre‑trial application sought to exclude certain material he deemed prejudicial; the judge agreed that some of that material should not be presented until the day of the hearing.