Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
BREAKING: NO JUSTICE IN HIGH COURT AS ENOCH BURKE RETURNED TO PRISON
It is now two weeks since the shock resignations of two members of the Disciplinary Appeal Panel (DAP) appointed to hear Enoch Burke’s appeal. Sean Ó Longáin and Jack Cleary resigned after Enoch Burke brought High Court proceedings revealing the panel’s appalling breaches of fair procedures.
In the December appeal Enoch Burke was subjected to a panel that blocked cross-examination of witnesses from the school, privately solicited documentation from the school in advance of the hearing and abruptly ended the hearing without closing submissions and during the attempted cross-examination of Principal Niamh McShane.
Today, in a naked and appalling abuse of power, Mr Justice Brian Cregan struck out these High Court proceedings against the DAP. He did this even though Geraldine O’Brien, a panel member and nominee from the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI), has not resigned and remains on the DAP.
Enoch Burke was dismissed from Wilson’s Hospital School after he refused to call a student by a new name and the “they” pronoun. He has since spent almost 600 days in Mountjoy Prison.
The DAP was supposed to be the "embodiment" of fair procedures and natural justice, where "independent" and "impartial" decisionmakers would hear Enoch's appeal. Instead, it turned out to be an absolute caricature of justice where almost every rule of fair procedure was broken.
Geraldine O'Brien's organisation, the ASTI, advises schools to "use the pronoun that a child wishes to be used". Ms O'Brien herself stated at the outset of the DAP hearing last December: “If I were instructed by my Principal to call a child whatever, I have to implement that instruction, I don’t make the instruction”.
At the last Court hearing on 4 February, Judge Cregan admitted that while Geraldine O'Brien remained on the panel, Enoch Burke's case was not moot. Today - notwithstanding the fact that Ms O'Brien has not resigned and still sits on the DAP - Judge Cregan had a totally different view.
The striking out of these proceedings is an abuse of power and wholly unlawful. Official Department of Education rules governing disciplinary processes are clear that an appointee to the DAP remains on the panel unless or until he or she resigns.
Judge Cregan has gifted an illegal escape route to Geraldine O'Brien - not provided anywhere in the Department of Education rules - for her to simply "disappear" without tendering her resignation and therefore without any public accountability for her actions.
Before the other two members of the DAP resigned two weeks ago, one of them — the Chairperson, Seán Ó Longáin — lied in an affidavit to the court. Today Enoch Burke made a formal application to Judge Cregan to refer this matter of alleged perjury to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The judge did not make any ruling on this application or even acknowledge it.
Today's proceedings are a mockery of justice by a judge who is desperate to wrap up Enoch Burke's case in any old way regardless of what the law says. He has told the school to get a new DAP panel up and running urgently. This would be the third Disciplinary Appeal Panel.
Enoch Burke has been denied his constitutional rights from the start by the Courts who are now trying to pass it on to the DAP which is not working out. Sin and treachery can’t be hidden easily.
BREAKING: NO JUSTICE IN HIGH COURT AS ENOCH BURKE RETURNED TO PRISON
It is now two weeks since the shock resignations of two members of the Disciplinary Appeal Panel (DAP) appointed to hear Enoch Burke’s appeal. Sean Ó Longáin and Jack Cleary resigned after Enoch Burke brought High Court proceedings revealing the panel’s appalling breaches of fair procedures.
In the December appeal Enoch Burke was subjected to a panel that blocked cross-examination of witnesses from the school, privately solicited documentation from the school in advance of the hearing and abruptly ended the hearing without closing submissions and during the attempted cross-examination of Principal Niamh McShane.
Today, in a naked and appalling abuse of power, Mr Justice Brian Cregan struck out these High Court proceedings against the DAP. He did this even though Geraldine O’Brien, a panel member and nominee from the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI), has not resigned and remains on the DAP.
Enoch Burke was dismissed from Wilson’s Hospital School after he refused to call a student by a new name and the “they” pronoun. He has since spent almost 600 days in Mountjoy Prison.
The DAP was supposed to be the "embodiment" of fair procedures and natural justice, where "independent" and "impartial" decisionmakers would hear Enoch's appeal. Instead, it turned out to be an absolute caricature of justice where almost every rule of fair procedure was broken.
Geraldine O'Brien's organisation, the ASTI, advises schools to "use the pronoun that a child wishes to be used". Ms O'Brien herself stated at the outset of the DAP hearing last December: “If I were instructed by my Principal to call a child whatever, I have to implement that instruction, I don’t make the instruction”.
At the last Court hearing on 4 February, Judge Cregan admitted that while Geraldine O'Brien remained on the panel, Enoch Burke's case was not moot. Today - notwithstanding the fact that Ms O'Brien has not resigned and still sits on the DAP - Judge Cregan had a totally different view.
The striking out of these proceedings is an abuse of power and wholly unlawful. Official Department of Education rules governing disciplinary processes are clear that an appointee to the DAP remains on the panel unless or until he or she resigns.
Judge Cregan has gifted an illegal escape route to Geraldine O'Brien - not provided anywhere in the Department of Education rules - for her to simply "disappear" without tendering her resignation and therefore without any public accountability for her actions.
Before the other two members of the DAP resigned two weeks ago, one of them — the Chairperson, Seán Ó Longáin — lied in an affidavit to the court. Today Enoch Burke made a formal application to Judge Cregan to refer this matter of alleged perjury to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The judge did not make any ruling on this application or even acknowledge it.
Today's proceedings are a mockery of justice by a judge who is desperate to wrap up Enoch Burke's case in any old way regardless of what the law says. He has told the school to get a new DAP panel up and running urgently. This would be the third Disciplinary Appeal Panel.
Enoch Burke has been denied his constitutional rights from the start by the Courts who are now trying to pass it on to the DAP which is not working out. Sin and treachery can’t be hidden easily.
