The High Court has ordered Enoch Burke to cover the legal expenses resulting from his unsuccessful defamation lawsuit concerning a piece featured in the Sunday Independent. The ruling was delivered in written form by Justice Rory Mulcahy, who decided that Mr Burke should carry the costs borne by Mediahuis Ireland Ltd, the newspaper’s publisher. This includes both reserved expenses and the costs associated with the court reviewing written submissions related to the case.
The central expenses are associated with the four-day period in May during which the case was heard. At issue was Mr Burke’s imprisonment, a consequence of his defiance of court orders demanding he avoid Wilson’s Hospital School in Multyfarnham, Co Westmeath. Formerly, he had a job at the school where he taught history and German.
The issue began when Mr Burke, a devout Evangelical Christian, disagreed with the school’s management. This dispute centred on his refusal to use “they/them” pronouns or to refer to a student by a different name. After an initial suspension in January of the previous year, he was eventually dismissed – a decision he is currently appealing.
Over 400 days of incarceration resulted from Mr Burke’s consistent refusal to stay away from the school. While his contempt of court orders was not addressed, he was released from prison at the end of last month, which coincided with the start of the school holidays. He was cautioned that disregarding the court’s orders and returning to the school would result in a return to prison.
On October 9th, 2022, during Mr Burke’s initial sentence, the Sunday Independent released a story. The report, quoting anonymous insiders, claimed that for his own protection, he had been relocated to a new cell in Mountjoy Prison to prevent violent aggressions. Reasons given were his disruptive behaviour towards fellow prisoners as well as his continuous expression of his strong opinions and beliefs.
Mr Burke subsequently filed a lawsuit alleging that his reputation had been injured by the article. Although minor inaccuracies were admitted by the defendants, they maintained that his reputation had not suffered any damage that would be identifiable to reasonable members of society.
A correction notice was released in January 2023, specifying that he was relocated from his confinement merely for administrative purposes and not for the reasons mentioned in the article. The legal suit against Mediahuis was dismissed by Mr Justice Mulcahy on 13th June, who concluded that the language in the publication, in its regular interpretation, was unable to damage his reputation.
The judge expressed a tentative opinion that the defendants merited costs, however, he permitted Mr Burke to argue for an alternative course of action. Mr Burke submitted written representations arguing among other aspects, that imposing a cost order would be a violation of justice principles. He insisted that the court should refrain from making any cost order.
Mediahuis contended that the judge’s suggestion was the apt order. After considering arguments from both parties, the judge declared that Mr Burke had failed to highlight anything that would warrant a deviation from the default stance, which is, the defendants, wholly triumphant in their defence, were deserving of a cost award.