(LifeSiteNews) — Tech mogul and free speech advocate Elon Musk called attention to an Irish teacher who is having his salary garnished to cover fines for showing up to work after refusing to use transgender pronouns.
On March 8, Musk responded to a video of the family of Enoch Burke, an Irish teacher persecuted for resisting LGBT ideology, describing how the courts are attempting to take funds from Burke’s salary to cover court fines.
“Wow,” Musk wrote in response to the video.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 8, 2025
“We’re here at the High Court this morning again before Mr. Justice David Nolan, who’s continuing in his quest to strip Enoch Burke of his assets, of his salary because of his refusal to accept the denial of his constitutional rights,” Burke’s brother said in a video uploaded to X.
His brother further revealed that the judge recently issued a judgement “based on information which wasn’t before the court.”
“And we could only have come to the knowledge of court by a back channel, which is very serious,” he explained. “If a court is to make a finding a fact, it has to be based on evidence.”
According to the Irish Times, the state has requested that outstanding fines be garnished from Burke’s salary. Currently, Burke is racking up fines almost daily for defying a court order by attending the Wilson’s Hospital School, telling the principal that he is “reporting for work and ready for work.”
Burke’s now internationally known case began in summer 2022. A teacher of German, history, and politics at a Church of Ireland school, he refused to address a male student – reportedly in the process of “transitioning” – as a girl and also refused to use the pronoun “they.”
Defying a school principal’s order to use the transgender pronoun, Burke was then placed on paid administrative leave on August 22, 2022, while the school board held a disciplinary process. After Burke ignored this and continued to attend the school, he was then handed an interim order on August 30 to prevent him from entering the school that he also ignored.
School authorities summoned the police, and Burke was arrested for contempt of court on September 5, 2022, while sitting in an empty classroom in the school. He was sentenced to jail for an unspecified period of time until he either purged his contempt of court or until the court decreed otherwise.
“Transgenderism is against my Christian belief. It is contrary to the scriptures, contrary to the ethos of the Church of Ireland and of my school,” the teacher said in his 2022 sentencing. “I love my school, with its motto Res Non Verba, actions not words, but I am here today because I said I would not call a boy a girl.”
Days before Christmas 2022, he was released by the High Court after the judge argued that Burke was using his imprisonment for his own ends.
At the time of his 2022 release, Burke was warned he would be fined €700 a day if he refused to obey the court injunction barring him from the school.
In January 2023, the school dismissed Burke from his employment.
After Burke continued to appear at the school, he was jailed September 2023, once again with the official reason being his refusal to abide by the court order not to appear at the school.
On June 28 2024, he was released from jail at the start of the summer term holidays. His release was not a pardon or a removal of the court order, with the judge warning Burke he would return to prison if he broke the court order – namely, if he returned to the school.
On September 2, Enoch Burke was arrested again after returning to Wilson’s Hospital school reportedly every day since the start of term on August 22.
Though his arrest and imprisonment are technically due to his non-compliance with the court order to avoid Wilson’s Hospital school, the case has been highlighted as ultimately based around the growing dominance of transgender ideology in society.