Original article (in Slovenian) was published on 22/12/2025; Author: Antun Katalenić
Irish teacher Enoch Burke was jailed for breaching a court order barring him from entering school grounds after his suspension.
On 4 December, an X user shared a post claiming that Irish teacher Enoch Burke had been sentenced to life imprisonment for refusing to use appropriate pronouns for a transgender student. The post included a screenshot of an English-language article headlined “Christian schoolteacher Enoch Burke sentenced to life in prison for transphobia”.
Similar claims were shared by others, including Aleš Primc, leader of the non-parliamentary party Voice for Children and Families, who mischaracterised Burke as a teacher in England.
These claims about Burke have previously been fact-checked by Irish outlet The Journal, like Oštro a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) code. According to The Journal, Burke was suspended in 2022 after the school said he disrupted a church service marking the institution’s 260th anniversary by publicly opposing the principal’s instruction that teachers use pronouns in line with the wishes of a transgender student.
Following the incident, disciplinary proceedings were launched against him and he was placed on paid leave pending their outcome.
Despite this, he continued to enter or attempt to enter school property, leading the school to initiate legal action. Ireland’s High Court found that Burke had breached the terms of his suspension and paid leave. Because he persisted, he was repeatedly jailed for contempt of court from September 2022 onwards. He has spent more than 500 days in custody to date, The Journal reported.
The school dismissed Burke in January 2023, but he continues to receive his salary due to a separate, ongoing procedure related to the suspension.
In its most recent decision on 18 November, the court stated that “Mr. Burke has not been imprisoned or fined for his views on transgender issues, which he is perfectly entitled to have and to articulate. Mr. Burke has been imprisoned, and fined, for contempt of court, because he has breached court orders directing him not to trespass on school property.”
In a post on X on 3 December, Burke said a judge had imposed an “effective life sentence” on him. This claim has been debunked by U.S. fact-checking outlet Lead Stories, also an IFCN signatory.
As the court explained on 28 November, Burke will be released once he undertakes not to enter the school property without permission. The court also stressed that it does not require him to follow the principal’s direction and that he remains free to continue protesting against transgender issues if he so chooses.
We informed the X user of our findings and will publish their response when we receive it.
The claim that Irish teacher Enoch Burke was sentenced to life imprisonment for refusing to use appropriate pronouns for a transgender student is false.
