Anyone else following the Burke vs Secondary School ongoings?

[LookItsMeAgain]

Just wondering if anyone else is currently following the ongoings between one Mr E Burke and his contempt of court issue?

www.thejournal.ie/enoch-burke-prison-3-5953238-Dec2022/

Yes, he is one of 'those' Burkes...

I know he is in prison but haven't been following the case.

What does 'those Burkes' mean?

I fully support his right to believe in biological sex and also thank anyone who is willing to stand up for biological sex.

He’s not in prison because of his views, he’s in prison because he violated a court order to stay away from the school he had formerly been employed by (now suspended).

“Those” Burkes? They have a reputation as eccentrics and there have been other news stories.

Yes while I think the school were way too quick to suspend pending investigation given the religious ethos of the school, I have to say the carry on of the family in court 😲 !! They really don’t do themselves any favours. And I think it makes it easy for trans activists to label anyone who doesn’t agree with them as religious loonies!

Whilst I am in total agreement that he should not have been compelled to refer to the student in question as other than their biological sex - his performance in haranguing the Principal in public, coming to school when suspended and courtroom outbursts by his mother and sister have been totally counterproductive. The school don't come out of it looking great either tbh.

I have been following this.
2 completely different issues are being mixed together here. Mr Burke is employed as a teacher in a school.

1. a child in the school (who should have a right to complete privacy) is gender non-conforming. School are managing this in a certain way; one which Mr Burke disagrees with. He is probably entitled to his viewpoint- but in the workplace, it is reasonable to keep those viewpoints to oneself, and certainly unreasonable to air them in front of children.
2. Mr Burke was suspended as a result of his refusal to comply with reasonable requests from the school management. He continued to turn up at the workplace during his suspension- the school were eventually left with no option other than to seek Court intervention.

His imprisonment has next to nothing to do with "trans issues" and everything to do with an employee refusing to comply with his employers reasonable requests.

Fortunately he has been released, which is possibly not to his liking.

I would disagree that it was a reasonable request by his employer @HilarysMantelpiece but understand your other points.

That's ok Xanadu.
The main thing is that this is being misrepresented in some places as EB having been jailed for his GC beliefs.
He wasn't.
He has been jailed for his behaviour toward his employer and the particular sensitivities involved given that his employer is a school. He continued to turn up to teach after being suspended.

I'm as GC as they come; but I wouldn't want my child exposed to that type of behaviour, by an adult, in school.

Totally agree @HilarysMantelpiece . I've read that he is a good teacher , if only he stuck to it.

But what a terrible state of affairs, where sane and rational teachers are bullied or shamed into silence while the Irish media gushes over Sara Phillips or Taryn de Vere.

Meanwhile it's left to eccentrics like the Burke family to protest against the gender extremists. I guess at least they have shone some light on the issue.

Yes, Abhann but I'd be worried that it's an unfortunate shade of light being shone on it. Most people will shy away from being associated with any topic that is being espoused by people with a "contrary" viewpoint.
This is the unfortunate effect of the lack of listening from those in authority. If one is not listened to when one's views are moderate, sometimes one has to shout louder- which objectively seems "angry" "extremist" or "eccentric".
It's difficult to hold the middle ground [such as John Hume did].

Totally agree @HilarysMantelpiece and @Abhannmor - his disagreement with the trans issue comes from a very different angle to many/most GC, and doesn't help those of us coming from the women's rights point of view.

This is still going on. He was released from prison (remember he was in prison for contempt of court and no other reason) over Christmas, and since term resumed, he's shown up at the school, despite having a restraining order preventing him from attending the school.
His father drove him to the school on the first day back.
His mother, sister and younger brother attend court with him, the latter seen carrying a cardboard box and no one knows what is in the box (that's supposed to be a bit of light humour).

I'm only after discovering that they even have a Wikipedia page dedicated to them - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_family_(Castlebar)#:~:text=The%20family%20are%20evangelical%20Christians,the%20LGBT%20community%20in%20Ireland.

I really feel for the student at the centre of the current controversy, for the school, who are trying to play by the rule of law here, when everything about that family indicates that they should be transported to an island where they are the only inhabitants and they can't annoy anyone else.

He really must have done one hell of an interview to have been given the job in the first place.

I can only imagine that anyone in Ireland (or even in the UK) would do a background check if someone with the surname Burke and coming from the Mayo region particularly in Ireland applies for a job now, and think twice about hiring them. I feel sorry for anyone with the surname Burke in that situation (that aren't related to this family). If you are related to this family, do something about your relatives for goodness sake.

The family have been on my radar for a while now. I see he has been dismissed from the school but can appeal the outcome within 10 working days. I'm sure there will be more developments.

Delighted he has been dismissed. How they have put up with him turning up for work is beyond me. I know someone in the school but have / would never comment in real life. It is awful

This article gives a bit of a background to the family. www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/the-burkes-of-castlebar-who-are-the-high-achieving-family-from-co-mayo-1.4847279

I'm glad they finally found John Rogers 🤣

@Taytocrisps - that link is behind a pay-wall.

The Wikipedia link tells you about their background.

Were the Burkes always an evangelical family or were they originally Catholic like most of us in Ireland.

I have no idea @LadyEloise1. I'd like to know the answer to that question too. I think it might shed some light on why they are like they are.

Sorry about the link @LookItsMeAgain. I've an IT subscription so I can't see which articles are behind paywalls. And as it's an old article (April 2002) I thought they would have lifted the paywall at this point.

Unfortunately @Taytocrisps (love the name by the way), it is still behind the paywall. It's probably because the family are rarely out of the headlines that they leave it there...get more subscribers that way 😉😉😆

And that should be April 2022, not 2002!

He's still turning up at the school everyday!

I recall some row involving Pentecostalists in Mayo way back in the 80s. A family firm accused of discrimination against Catholic employees iirc. So it's possible the Burkes were born in this faith. In fairness , they most likely think the Church of Ireland and Methodists are going to hell also !
People say he is a very good teacher , which is all the sadder.

Perhaps he could identify as a 14 year old and just enrol ?