The High Court ordered Enoch Burke’s release from Castlerea Prison on Wednesday morning after Judge Brian Cregan said there had been a material change in circumstances. Burke, a schoolteacher at the centre of a contempt case tied to Wilson's Hospital School in Co Westmeath, was released after spending more than 700 days in jail across different spells.
Brian Cregan and the release order
Judge Brian Cregan said the change followed the recent refusal of Burke’s appeal against his dismissal for gross misconduct. That ruling gave the court the basis it used to end the prison spell that had been tied to Burke’s refusal to comply with orders banning him from the school.
The release took effect from Castlerea Prison on Wednesday morning. For Burke, the immediate change was simple and direct: he was no longer being held under the contempt orders that had kept him in jail over multiple periods.
Wilson's Hospital School dispute
The case has run through Burke’s refusal to stay away from Wilson's Hospital School, with the contempt orders built around that ongoing dispute. The court’s decision on Wednesday did not end the wider case, but it did change Burke’s immediate position after more than 700 days in custody across different spells.
Burke later said in a video posted on the Enoch Burke X account on Wednesday night that Judge Brian Cregan was releasing him “under the pretext that the DAP, that's the disciplinary appeals panel, is over, he said, and is at an end.” He also said Cregan knew “full well” the seriousness of a party being judge in their own cause.
Burke's Wednesday night video
Burke said Judge Brian Cregan was releasing him because “the school was now over and children would be safe.” He called that “a total untruth” and said children at Wilson's Hospital School “came up, shaking hands with me, wanting photos, wanting signatures, delighted that I was there, wanting me to sign their jumpers at this time of the end of year.”
His brother also spoke in the video posted on the Enoch Burke X account and referred to the Pride Parade as “the depravity, the perversion, the satanism. Men dressed in black, men like dogs barking.” The court’s order already had the practical effect of ending Burke’s latest confinement, while leaving the underlying dispute over the school and the disciplinary process in place.
The immediate question now is not whether Burke left Castlerea Prison; he did. It is what change in circumstances the court will treat as decisive if the case returns to the High Court again.
