Enoch Burke will once again appear before the courts today – but members of his family have been barred from attending.

The former schoolteacher has spent nearly 300 days behind bars in total for refusing to abide by a court order restraining him from entering the grounds of his former school.

Today he will be given his third opportunity to purge his contempt of court by agreeing to stay away from the school.

If he does so, he will walk free, if he refuses, the court has the power to order his continued detention at Mountjoy Prison.

Enoch Burke

On The Pat Kenny Show this morning, Newstalk Courts Correspondent Frank Greaney said the ball is “very much in Enoch Burke’s hands’ when it comes to his time in prison.

“It always has been in relation to these contempt proceedings,” he said.

“He doesn’t even have to go so far as to apologise to the court. All he has to do is give the school and the court an undertaking that he will abide by the court order and refrain from attending at Wilson’s Hospital School.

“If he was to do that, he would be released immediately and if he was to follow through with that commitment there would be no issues.”

Burke Family

Frank said Enoch’s family has been barred from attending today’s hearing.

He said Mr Justice Mark Sanfey last week gave several family members an opportunity to give an undertaking that they would not disrupt the court proceedings.

When they refused to do so, he directed that they be excluded.

“He had no objection to them attending in person; he just wanted a commitment that there would be no disruption or interruptions as we have seen – and I have been witness to many of these occasions where the Burkes have crossed over the judge as he is delivering a judgement.

“Unsurprisingly all of the Burkes objected to their exclusion.”

Members of the Burke family leaving the High Court, 16/2/2023. Image: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie

He said the Burkes claimed that they had not been given proper notice of the decision to exclude, although the judge said they were notified well in advance.

The Burkes also claimed that it is unconstitutional to deny them access to the courtroom.

Enoch Burke also questioned his treatment by the courts when he appeared via videolink last week.

“He claimed that he had been dragged from his cell at Mountjoy,” said Frank.

“He said he was given no advance warning of the application to exclude some of his family.

“He said he felt totally unprepared, he accused the judge of being a liar and again he claimed that he was being punished for his religious beliefs.”

Enoch Burke leaving Wilson's Hospital School on August 28th 2023. Picture by: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

Frank said Judge Sanfey has been at pains to point out that his beliefs have nothing to do with his contempt of court – and today’s hearing is solely about whether Enoch is willing to agree to stay away from the school.

Enoch spent over 100 days in prison in his first stint before being released.

He then returned to Wilson’s Hospital School after the summer holidays and on September 8th he was once again imprisoned for breaching the court order.

“He has spent almost 300 days now behind bars in Mountjoy Prison and as I said earlier, he could walk out the door today or any day if he simply gave that undertaking to stay away from Wilsons Hospital School,” said Frank.

The hearing is due to take place today.