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Tuesday, 20 January 2026

Teacher Imprisoned for Refusing to Use Student’s “They/Them” Pronouns

 Enoch Burke is an Evangelical Christian and a teacher of German and history in Ireland. He has been imprisoned multiple times since late 2022 for breaching a High Court injunction that barred him from his place of work. 

The dispute originated when Burke objected on religious grounds to address a ‘transitioning’ student by a new name and the pronoun “they”, arguing that complying with this request would violate his Christian beliefs and constitutional rights.

He has spent a total of 560 days in prison since then and racked up €225,000 in court fines. As of yesterday, he is back in Mountjoy prison again.

Mr Justice Brian Cregan instructed Enoch Burke be brought to court to “give his version of events”. Speaking in the High Court yesterday, Mr Cregan ruled that Mr Burke had indeed trespassed on the grounds of the school on 15 and 16 January, in what he called a “fragrant breach” of a court order, adding, “You have been dismissed. It is not your place of work. What part of that sentence do you not understand?”

When Burke was released last week, Mr Cregan had said that he was let out for “one reason and one reason only” – to prepare for his case against the appeals body. Burke insisted he was going back to the school “to do a day’s work”, and following his arrest yesterday, said “this is all about transgenderism”. ...<<<Read More>>>....