Teacher Enoch Burke has failed in a bid to be released from Mountjoy Prison.

Mr Burke has refused to use a pupil’s preferred gender pronouns and name after the pupil declared themselves to be ‘gender non-binary’. He was suspended with pay after having a row with his principal and barred from the school pending a disciplinary hearing. When he turned up to the school anyway, he was arrested and jailed for contempt of court. He is refusing to purge the contempt on the grounds of conscience rights.

He was committed for contempt on September 6th, after saying he could not, arising from his Christian beliefs, comply with an injunction of August 30th preventing him attending or teaching at the school.

Mr Burke has received the support of prominent gender-critical feminists such as Irish psychotherapist, Stella O’Malley.

On the other hand, Senator Ronan Mullen has called on Mr Burke to purge his contempt of court: “Citizens must have respect for the rule of law and only in extreme situations should somebody consider defying a court injunction.”