Enoch Burke turns up to school again despite sacking - read OP before posting

the fine is now €1,400 and it is for every day he doesn’t purge his contempt his attendance or not at the school is an irrelevance. He’d be fined regardless I understand.

Yes, a typo obviously, should read 1,400 a day.

So, Judge Nolan was wrong then? I wonder where he got the 193k from just before Christmas?

The 193k was wrong in a different way, it wasn't counting weekends/holidays.

"Mr Justice David Nolan on Friday said he would impose a daily fine of €1,400 on Mr Burke if he breaches the court order by returning to the school when it reopens after the school holidays.He said so far Mr Burke owes €193,000 to the State in fines imposed for contempt of court."

I read that as, he is in contempt only if he turns up at the school. If he chooses to stay away, or gives an undertaking to stay away he purges his contempt.

100%.

The matter of the daily fines has been covered so many times in the thread, links to the original rulings posted, and yet some still are of the impression that the fines only apply to the days he turns up at the school. And news media continue to report it that way. They are just lazily regurgitating what has been previously reported.

It has become as tedious as those who continue to think (and report) that EB was imprisoned for "refusing to use pronouns".

If EB was being fined only for days he turned up at the school, the fines would be less than €150k. I've done the maths.

Just one thing on the fines, I know he's in contempt until he purges.

How can he be fined for being in contempt of court for failing to comply with an injunction to stay away from the school if he couldn't attend the school anyway because he's in jail?

I know that, Is he in contempt of court for his behaviour in court or for something else?

No point fining if you cannot collect- and no point increasing fines if he doesn’t have the money to pay.

Having a substantial fine over him will mean no access to a mortgage - academic to a degree because the likelihood now of him gaining employment that pays a salary that supports a mortgage is somewhat out of his reach in Ireland at least, in my view.

With 30+ working years still ahead of him it’s gonna be one very boring and monotonous existence living off pin money

To purge his contempt he has to go before a judge and give an undertaking that he will comply with the HC order going forward.

He remains in contempt until he does so. It doesn't matter whether he is in prison, if it's a weekend, or a bank holiday, or if the school is closed for holidays.

He can purge his contempt at any time, and indeed has been invited to do so many times by numerous HC judges. At one hearing alone, Justice Sanfey gave him 10 opportunities to purge his contempt, and he declined to reply.

The contempt is not solely related to his continued presence at the school but also arises from him declining to tell the high court, despite repeated opportunities to tell the court that he will obey its order, he will continue to be in contempt of the high court. The judges [plural] have made that second point repeatedly to him and he has made it clear to them he is not inclined to obey the court, period.

He is not in contempt for his behaviour in court. The contempt is not solely related to his continued presence at the school but also arises from him declining to tell the high court, despite repeated opportunities to do so, to tell the court that he will obey its order. He continues to be in contempt of the high court. The judges [plural] have made that second point repeatedly to him and he has made it clear to them he is not inclined to obey the court, period.

In connection with him being in prison, that does not, AFAIK, prevent him from communicating to the high court that he will comply with its order and tell the high court that he will stay away from the school. While he has been in Mountjoy he has been provided electronic communication means by the Prison Service so he could talk to the High Court sittings during hearings on the issue.

No one as far as I can see is disputing any of these facts.

He is in contempt until he purges.

Again, (and I suspect it's deliberate at this point) you are misunderstanding that the daily fines are for each day he remains in contempt and not for each day he turns up at the school.

Moving on, as it's like beating your head against a brick wall.

"you are misunderstanding that the daily fines are for being in contempt and not for turning up at the school."

You (and I suspect deliberately at this point) are misunderstanding this bit

"Judge Nolan's figure would suggest the fines are probably for every day Burke is not in prison, whether he attends school or not."

I realise some have invested a lot over the 2 years of this thread.

But I will take the the opinion of a Judge involved in the case, over an anonymous poster on an internet forum.

Well, that's up to you.

But many of us on this thread who have been invested in this case since the beginning clearly have a fuller understanding of what has been going on in that time.

And when we see such errors as "he is being fined for turning up at the school" being repeated as fact, we will attempt to put the factually accurate information out there, (he is being fined for contempt) for the benefit of all readers of the thread. That is all we can do.

If you personally choose to disregard it, that's fine.

As the old saying goes, "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink".