Irish police have failed to locate controversial schoolteacher Enoch Burke, three days after a Dublin court ordered his imprisonment.
The teacher has spent more than 500 days in prison in several spells since 2022, after he refused to stop showing up at the school that sacked him.
Wilson’s Hospital, a secondary school in County Westmeath, dismissed Burke for misconduct that arose from his refusal to address a transgender pupil by their new pronouns.
Burke, a member of an evangelical Christian family from County Mayo, contends he is being jailed for his religious beliefs, and has become a cause celebre among many on the far-right.
His former employers maintain he has been jailed for flouting court orders and continuing to trespass on private property.
‘Stalking the school’
On Tuesday, a High Court judge described Burke as an intruder engaged in “stalking the school” and a “potential danger” to pupils and teachers.
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Mr Justice Brian Cregan said that Burke had carried out a sustained and deliberate attack on the authority of the civil courts and instructed Gardai [the Irish police service] to arrest him.
Garda members visited the Burke family home in Castlebar, County Mayo, at least twice on Wednesday but failed to find the teacher. Two videos documenting the visits were posted to Enoch Burke’s X account.
The videos showed the Gardai inquiring as to the teacher’s location, but they were unsuccessful in tracing him.
Enoch ‘entitled to religious belief’
In one of the videos, his father Sean Burke describes the Gardai’s presence as “shameful” and declares that “Enoch is entitled to his religious belief”. The Gardai then leave.
The Garda press office confirmed to Sky News on Friday morning that no arrest had yet been made.
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In a statement, the service said: “An Garda Síochána has received a Court order relating to contempt of Court by an individual. An Garda Síochána does not comment on the detail of on-going operations.”
The activities of the Burke family have been generating headlines for years in Ireland.
Sean Burke was jailed for two months last year for assaulting a Garda in a courtroom.
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The jailing of Enoch Burke has been embraced by right-wing commentators, in Ireland and the US, as evidence of the oppression of religious freedoms.
Elon Musk has shared posts containing misleading information about the case.
Sky News was present at Wilson’s Hospital School on a previous occasion when Burke was arrested by Irish police.
He told Sky News that he detested prison, which he described as “a terrible place”, but said that his rights were being breached.
