Enoch Burke’s court fines have soared to between €268,000 and €452,000, the High Court has heard.

The fines have arisen from breaches of court directions ordering him not to trespass at Wilson’s Hospital School.

The court heard yesterday the board of management of the Co. Westmeath school had put the level of fines at €452,100 – while a judge’s ‘rough’ calculations on ‘fairer’ criteria landed at €268,600.

The final judgment is due to be made next week. The former history and German teacher has been engaged in a high-profile legal dispute with the school since 2022.

He was suspended following incidents arising from a request from the school’s then-principal to address a student by a new name and pronoun, and later dismissed.

Mr Burke has repeatedly argued the direction was unconstitutional and went against his right to express his religious beliefs.

He has spent more than 700 days in prison over different periods of detention after he was found to have violated court orders instructing him not to trespass at the school – and judges have also made orders relating to fines for such breaches.

Yesterday, Rosemary Mallon, for the school’s board of management, told the High Court the school had calculated a total figure of about €452,100 in fines.

This was based on orders relating to the number of days Mr Burke refused to purge his contempt of court, and the different levels of fine that have applied over the past four years – which had increased from €700 to €1,400 and €2,000 per day following subsequent orders from judges.

However, Judge Brian Cregan took issue with the calculations and said he did not believe it was the intent of the orders to include school holidays and weekends.

He said Mr Burke could only trespass at the school on days it was sitting and it was the ‘import’ of the orders that he would be fined for breaches of court orders by trespassing.

Mr Burke, who appeared by videolink from Castlerea Prison, said the only relevant period of calculation was the ‘four long years that the court has remained silent’ on issues relating to his freedom of religious expression relating to not using the ‘they’ pronoun.

During the hearing, the court also heard Mr Burke is no longer getting a salary from the Department of Education and had received his final payslip.

However, the court was told Mr Burke was challenging this. On the issue of Mr Burke’s ongoing imprisonment, the judge asked Ms Mallon for the school’s view.

She said the school had no desire for Mr Burke to be in prison but said it had a ‘real apprehension’ that he would ‘trespass yet again’ after the summer break.

The judge said he would reflect on the matters over the next week and give a judgment next Wednesday.