Irish court froze teacher's bank account over unpaid fines, not for his gender beliefs: expert

"A bank froze the account of an Irish professor because he openly defied gender ideology due to his Christian beliefs", stated a user in a March 24, 2025 Facebook post, which shared a link to an online article about Irish teacher Enoch Burke.

A video of Burke standing in front of an ATM was also shared on Telegram, where it was viewed more than 2100 times since March 21, with the description "Irish teacher Enoch Burke rejected gender pronouns - now his bank accounts are frozen".

In the video, which has also been shared on Facebook with the same description in Croatian, Burke says his account was "raided" and that he had not received his pay, which was withheld.

The article on the Epoha website, which has posted false or misleading information repeatedly here, here, here and here, claimed that the bank froze Burke's account because "he openly opposed gender ideology", and that the "terror against him continues in a form which is much worse".

These claims circulated in Croatia, where anti-trans sentiment is on the rise since the case of a trans Croatian citizen attempting to adopt a child from Zambia garnered national attention (archived here). Stories from Ireland, which houses a large Croatian diaspora and shares the Catholic religion, often appear on Croatian social media (archived here).

However, the claim about Burke's bank account is wrong.

The former teacher was fired from his position at Wilson's Hospital School in County Westmeath, Ireland for inappropriate conduct and subsequently convicted of contempt of court in 2022 after he repeatedly turned up at the campus, AFP has reported.

In the latest court ruling, his bank accounts were frozen over thousands of euros in unpaid court fines, official documents show and a legal expert confirmed to AFP.

Image

Screenshots of inaccurate posts on Facebook, the Epoha website, and Telegram, taken on April 1, 2025.

Dismissed for professional misconduct

Burke's case has gathered some media attention in Ireland and the United Kingdom (archived here and here).

As AFP wrote in a previous fact-check, he was a schoolteacher at Wilson's Hospital School in the city of Mullingar, west of Dublin.

He opposed a student's wish to change gender, despite the school saying it would support the transition. His suspension and subsequent dismissal were due to several instances of inappropriate behaviour, the school has said.

He was handed a prison sentence and fines due to deliberately ignoring court orders, none of which had anything to do with his religious beliefs, despite his repeated claims to the contrary.

According to the May 19, 2023 court ruling (archived here), Burke was suspended on August 22, 2022, some weeks after interrupting a memorial service in the school chapel celebrating a school anniversary, preventing the bishop from speaking, holding a speech condemning "transgenderism", and confronting the principal in an inappropriate manner. Despite his suspension, Burke continued to show up for work, which is why the school board asked to court to issue an injunction.

The ruling notes that Burke was jailed for continuing to show up at school, despite a court order preventing him from doing so. He was released during school breaks and would then come to school again, and in January 2023, the court also imposed a fine on Burke, ordering him to pay 700 euros for every day he continues to ignore the court order to stay away from Wilson's Hospital School (archived here).

Burke 'refuses to engage': judge

In the December 20, 2024 High Court ruling, Justice Nolan noted that he asked Burke "on many occasions" and "in the nicest possible way" to purge his contempt -- which means to stop disobeying court orders -- but that he "simply refuses to engage" (archived here).

Nolan stated that Burke was jailed "because he chooses to be in jail", concluding that Burke "sees some advantage in his continued imprisonment", and that his continued jailing would only contribute to "whatever he feels he is currently achieving by being in prison". The ruling also noted that Burke had not paid any court fines or expenses up to that point. 

Even though the school board dismissed Burke on April 21, 2023, he appealed the dismissal and continued to receive his teacher's pay, which was also confirmed in the most recent court rulings (archived here).

In the latest, February 21, 2025 ruling by Justice Nolan, the court increased the fine to 1400 euros per day of his continued contempt of court and has made an order of Garnishee -- a move to forcibly collect unpaid and ongoing fines from Burke's account (archived here and here). As of February 24, 2025, he owed 79,100 in unpaid fines.

Burke has again told the court that he spent 513 days in prison because he refused to use the "they" pronoun for a young pupil. The court, however, has stressed that this is not true. "As this court has repeated on many occasions, the Defendant is fundamentally incorrect in his assertion that this is something to do with his religious beliefs", Justice Nolan stated in the ruling. "Nothing could be further from the truth. It is because of his total and utter rejection of the norms of a civilized society to abide by the rule of law."

Legal expert Tom Hickey from Dublin City University also told AFP on March 28 that Burke was not jailed or fined for his religious beliefs. "It is entirely misleading to say that the court order is on foot of Enoch Burke's "rejection of gender ideology" or of his "refusal to use the preferred pronouns of a pupil"," said Hickey. "The Irish Courts have never considered the merits or otherwise (or the lawfulness or otherwise) of those matters. Those matters have not been litigated before any Irish Court."

Hickey explained that the latest court order was due to Burke continuing to ignore an earlier order to stay away from the property of the school. "For a period, the Courts used the standard remedy for cases of contempt: Mr. Burke was jailed on the thinking that he would eventually purge his contempt (i.e. agree to stay away from the school)", said Hickey. "It became clear, however, that he would never purge his contempt, and so the courts have now gone for this alternative course of action - essentially sequestering his assets."

Hickey noted that this is different from a case of fining Burke, "as it is clear that he would refuse to pay the fines". "Rather, it is that the State would effectively take the money at source. Yes, he is likely to continue to show contempt and to turn up at the school grounds. But there will now be a cost to him for doing so: he will continue to lose chunks of his salary."

At least 27 court rulings were delivered in cases involving Burke since December 19, 2022, many of them noting that his contempt of court was intentional, designed to attract attention (archived here).

"He has acted in ways designed to prevent his release", Justice Nolan wrote in the December 20, 2024 ruling (archived here). "It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that he is exploiting his imprisonment for his own ends. It is clear to me that he has been persuaded by others that he is best seen as a martyr".