Enoch Burke, a teacher who is currently incarcerated at Mountjoy Prison, has a defamation lawsuit against a newspaper, which is due to be heard next week. The legal dispute concerns a report that was published during Mr Burke’s initial stint in jail in 2022. He is serving time for disregarding court orders prohibiting him from going to Wilson’s Hospital School in Westmeath, an institution that had sacked him. Mr Burke maintains his termination was due to him asserting his religious views on transgender issues, with his appeal against this dismissal still yet to be resolved.
The upcoming case involves Mediahuis Ireland, publishers of the Sunday Independent, whom Mr Burke accuses of defamation. The accusations are refuted by the publishers, who insist that they published the story in question fairly and responsibly and that it was in the public interest.
The disputed article was published on October 9th, 2022, when Mr Burke was first imprisoned for contempt. He was later released on the condition he pay €700 each day, as an alternative to being jailed. He nonetheless returned to the school and was subsequently imprisoned for contempt for a second time in September.
A solitary judge will preside over the case, eschewing the typical combination of a judge and jury. Prior to the trial, before Justice David Nolan, objections were raised by Mr Burke concerning certain evidence, arguing that it was detrimental to his case.
These objections were countered by Mediahuis’s representative, Ronan Lupton SC. The sitting judge, Justice Nolan, found that some of the contested information should be excluded from the court’s consideration but that legal arguments made by the defendant could be presented before the trial judge.
He assured Mr Burke that as the case would not be jury-led, the judge would be fully aware that legal arguments are not the same as evidence. Mr Burke demonstrated a level of dissatisfaction with this ruling, but was informed by Justice Nolan that he could revisit his application during the actual trial.