Enoch Burke warned appeal may fail over contempt

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Enoch Burke was warned at the Court of Appeal on 13 February 2023 that it may not hear his appeal over the injunction keeping him from Wilson’s Hospital School while he remains in contempt.

The appeal was due to proceed on Thursday and concerned High Court orders including the injunction barring him from attending the school in Co Westmeath.

President of the Court of Appeal George Birmingham said the court would have to consider Burke’s continuing contempt, including any further contempt before judgment. He described hearing an appeal by someone who had not obeyed the order as an “imbalanced situation”.

Burke had spent 108 days in Mountjoy Prison for contempt and was released before Christmas without purging it. After he returned to the school in January, the High Court imposed a €700 daily fine for each day he remained in contempt.

The warning followed Burke’s removal by gardaí from a High Court courtroom on 13 February 2023 after he interrupted proceedings before Mr Justice Brian O’Moore.