Senator Ronan Mullen defends Enoch Burke's beliefs…

Senator Ronan Mullen defends Enoch Burke's beliefs after week of court chaos

Senator Ronán Mullen has spoken in support of the controversial beliefs of school teacher, Enoch Burke, and his family.

Mr Mullen said that Mr Burke had made “reasonable points” adding that he believes people should not be "forced to use language that they don't believe to be truthful.”

However, he also slammed the illegal actions of Mr Burke, saying that he and his family had "queered the pitch" for other conservative Christians like himself.

Mr Mullen also slammed Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, and Tánaiste, Micheál Martin, for their "anything goes now" stance and for allegedly "silencing the debate" with their "intolerant schoolmaster" attitudes.

Mr Burke has clocked up almost €30,000 in contempt of court fines for repeatedly disobeying a court order and turning up at the school he taught at, Wilson Hospital’s College in Dublin.

The teacher, who is suspended on full pay, had appealed against orders made by judges of the High Court last September, in a case he claims centres around his objection to the school's direction to refer to a student at the Co Westmeath school by a different name using pronoun 'they.'

The latest court sitting this week saw Mr Burke dragged from the court after disrupting proceedings when the judges ruled against him again.

The Irish Mirror asked Mr Mullen for his take on the issues at stake.

He said: “There is an area of compassion here where you roll with people’s reality, as far as they understand it.

“But that doesn’t mean that you force people, or socially oblige people, to start using language that they don’t believe to be truthful.

“So, he (Enoch Burke) started off with a good point, which is that you should not be compelled, no teacher, no person, should be compelled to use language they believe is untruthful.

“This should be solved at the level of treating each other decently.”

Mr Mullen wanted to point out that the Burke family are not traditional Catholics, as he said: “It was first thought that the Burkes were Catholics, they’re not Catholics, they are themselves and they are not an advert for the Christian take on this issue either, nor are they an advert for how to talk about this issue.”

Mr Mullen added: “If anything, they’ve queered the pitch, and that’s not meant as a pun or anything, that’s a valid point.

“They have queered the pitch for those who… we actually have a very valid point to make.”

Representing himself in court this week, Mr Burke had argued in the appeal that injunctions made by Ms Justice Siobhan Stack and Mr Justice Max Barrett against him last September were invalid and that the school had not made out a fair or strong case that would justify the granting of the orders against him.

The school argued that the orders granted against Mr Burke are valid, and that he had been suspended due to his alleged conduct at the school in incidents that occurred at a religious service and subsequent meal at the school last year and should remain undisturbed.