BREAKING: APPEAL PANEL MEMBERS RESIGN IN ENOCH BURKE CASE
Members of the Disciplinary Appeal Panel tasked with hearing teacher Enoch Burke’s appeal have resigned after shocking revelations came to light in High Court proceedings as to how the Appeal Hearing was conducted.
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 over 580 days in Mountjoy Prison.
At the Appeal Hearing on 13 December 2025, Enoch Burke was subjected to an Appeal 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.
One panel member, Geraldine O’Brien, stated at the outset of the hearing: “If I were instructed by my Principal to call a child whatever, I have to implement that instruction, I don’t make the instruction”.
The Appeal Hearing took place over a single day on 13 December 2025 and concluded that evening. The result was expected within 10 school days of the hearing, as per Department of Education regulations. The High Court was informed by the Counsel for the school that the decision would be delivered by 9 January 2026.
Enoch Burke raised serious concerns about the conduct of the Appeal Hearing and as a result, the Appeal Panel made a decision on 2 January 2026 to re-open the hearing.
However, in a subsequent High Court affidavit, the Chairperson of the Appeal Panel Seán Ó Longáin swore on oath that the Appeal Panel had always intended to reconvene the hearing, and that the decision to re-open the hearing was in no way connected to the concerns Enoch Burke had raised. These were demonstrably false statements and were shown to be such by Enoch Burke.
We believe that it is as a result of these lies, and other serious matters brought to light in these proceedings, that these resignations have been tendered.
Credit to : Josiah Burke