High Court: Burke released from prison in light of material change in circumstances

About this case:

• Citation:
  [2026] IEHC 431
• Judgment:
  External link
• Court:
  High Court
• Judge:
  Mr Justice Brian Cregan

Delivering judgment for the High Court, Mr Justice Cregan opined: “Mr. Burke is entitled to his religious views on transgenderism. He is free to shout those views from the rooftops – so long as he remains outside the school gates and does not trespass and disrupt the education of the young pupils at the school.”

Background

Mr Burke was suspended from his position as a teacher in Wilson’s Hospital School in August 2022.

In circumstances where he continued to turn up at the school, injunctive relief was granted as against him restraining him from trespassing on school grounds. Mr Burke persistently disobeyed the court’s orders, resulting in his first committal to prison for contempt of court on 5 September 2022 for the first time.

The school later obtained a permanent injunction against Mr Burke from Mr Justice Alexander Owens in May 2023. Having refused to obey that order, Mr Burke was again committed to prison.

In the intervening period, Mr Burke was released from and committed to prison on a number of occasions arising from his failure to abstain from trespassing on school property.

Almost three years later, Mr Burke unsuccessfully appealed the order of Mr Justice Owens to the Court of Appeal. Mr Burke indicated to the High Court that notwithstanding his defeat in the Court of Appeal, he still would not obey the order of Mr Justice Owens.

Mr Burke applied for leave to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision to the Supreme Court, which application remains undetermined as yet. The matter came back before the High Court, where Mr Justice Cregan was tasked with considering whether Mr Burke should be released from prison again.

The High Court

Mr Justice Cregan emphasised that Mr Burke was committed to prison for contempt of court in light of his refusal to obey the order restraining him from trespassing at the school, and that “He was not imprisoned for his religious beliefs.”

Pointing out that the reason why Mr Burke was restrained from trespassing at the school was to safeguard the young students’ education from disruption, the judge deemed it “astonishing” that notwithstanding the court’s order, his dismissal for gross misconduct and the hiring of security guards specifically to keep him away from the school, Mr Burke continued to show up at the school “despite three layers of objections to him.”

Before moving to consider the issue of his imprisonment, Mr Justice Cregan further noted that Mr Burke’s refusal to accept reality was unprecedented, and that while he made much of the fact that his conscience would not let him call a pupil by their preferred pronoun, “his conscience seems undisturbed when he deliberately disrupts his pupils’ education and undermines the proper functioning of the school”.

The court outlined that there had been a material change in circumstances on 20 May 2026, when the Disciplinary Appeal Panel refused Mr Burke’s appeal against his dismissal from the school, and his termination was confirmed with immediate effect.

The judge further explained that in addition to Mr Burke’s exhaustion of the appeals process in respect of his employment, the Department of Education, which up until that point had continued to pay Mr Burke’s salary, had now ceased paying his salary.

In circumstances where the dispute between Mr Burke and the school was now at an end, subject to any legal proceedings which might be brought by Mr Burke in respect of his dismissal, Mr Justice Cregan found that this was an appropriate stage at which to release Mr Burke from prison.

Remarking that no proper reason had ever been given by Mr Burke as to why he had continued to turn up at the school every day, and that his contention that he was still a school employee with a duty to turn up at the school to teach was “a legal fantasy which only exists inside Mr. Burke’s head”, Mr Justice Cregan concluded that “It is now clear that this hopeless fiction is at an end.”

The court additionally considered that the school year, and particularly the leaving certificate exams, were over and that if Mr Burke intended to turn up at the school, it would not create any great disruption until September.

Finally, the court referred to the school’s attitude, noting that the school had indicated that it had no desire to keep Mr Burke in prison.

Conclusion

In the circumstances, the High Court ordered Mr Burke’s release from prison, emphasising that he will remain in contempt of court until such time as he purges his contempt.

The Board of Management of Wilson’s Hospital School v Burke (No. 6) [2026] IEHC 431