Former teacher Enoch Burke has claimed educators fear speaking out against transgenderism.
‘Teachers are afraid to state their beliefs or whisper an objection on the corridors of the school,’ he told the Court of Appeal yesterday.
He argued that the High Court was wrong to dismiss his claim that a teacher set to hear the appeal against his sacking from Wilson’s Hospital School in Co. Westmeath was a ‘promoter of transgenderism’.
He told the Court of Appeal that he strongly contested a finding that there could be no reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of Kieran Christie, general secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI).
Mr Burke, who has now spent more than 450 days behind bars for contempt of court, appeared before the Court of Appeal yesterday to argue his case.
Mr Burke, from Castlebar, Co Mayo, was dismissed from the school in January 2023, and remains on full pay until the determination of his appeal. That appeal has been held up by the current challenge.
His dismissal followed the school principal’s request that he address a gender-transitioning pupil by a new name and the pronoun ‘they’ – something he refused to do, claiming it was against his Christian beliefs.
Mr Burke claimed in the High Court that it was not appropriate for Mr Christie to be on the panel of three, but Judge Conor Dignam ruled against him in December last year.
Yesterday, Mr Burke pointed to a statement from the ASTI contained in a Sunday newspaper article, written in September 2022, several days after his suspension from Wilson’s was first reported in the media.
The article was titled, ‘Schools depend on activist groups to inform transgender policies’, with a subheading, ‘ASTI advises schools to use the pronouns that students request to be addressed by’.
He told the court: ‘Under the leadership of Mr Christie, the ASTI has unequivocally advised schools to accept and use transgender pronouns. This approach has been publicly fostered and advanced by the ASTI over the course of Mr Christie’s term as general secretary since 2016.
‘A reasonable observer would have a grave concern that Mr Christie could not approach my appeal from a neutral and unbiased standpoint.’
Pádraic Lyons, barrister for the members of the appeal board, said it was clear to any objective observer that this was general advice, with no reference to Mr Burke.
The Court of Appeal will deliver its judgment at a later date.
