Enoch Burke is The Prisoner

Secondary school teacher Enoch Burke will remain in prison for Christmas after refusing to give an undertaking to comply with a High Court order to stay away from the school where he used to work.

Mr Burke was jailed for the second time on 9 September for breaching a High Court injunction directing him to stay away from Wilson's Hospital School in Co Westmeath.

The matter was brought back before the court this morning to see if Mr Burke was willing to purge his contempt by giving an undertaking that he would obey the order.

Lawyers for the school told the court that if Mr Burke refused to purge his contempt, they would be asking with "great reluctance" that he remain in prison.

Mr Justice Mark Sanfey rose from the bench five times due to interruptions from members of Mr Burke’s family - his mother Martina, sister Ammi, father Sean and brother Isaac - as well as Mr Burke’s refusal to stop making submissions which the judge said had nothing to do with the sole issue before the court.

Mr Burke’s submissions focused in particular on the appointment of former Attorney General Maire Whelan to the Court of Appeal, where she later ruled on his case.

The family members repeated on a number of occasion that her appointment, in 2017, "stinks to high heaven".

The judge said it was very clear Mr Burke was not prepared to purge his contempt and he saw no reason to interfere with the order that he be brought to Mountjoy.

Mr Justice Sanfey said Mr Burke was to remain in prison until he purged his contempt and he would review the matter again on 27 February.

However, he said he wanted to make it clear that Mr Burke could come to court at any time to give an undertaking that he was prepared to abide by the order.

The judge said it was regrettable that he had to rise on a number of occasions to maintain basic order in the court and that the assistance of gardaí was needed.

He said the tag team nature of the interruptions showed they had been done in an orchestrated way to cause maximum disruption.

He said that would not be tolerated, in the same way the flouting of a court order would not be tolerated.