Enoch Burke fines to be matched and donated to LGBTQ+ charities

A Dublin councillor is attempting to raise the same amount of money that Enoch Burke is fined and donate it to LGBTQ+ causes.

Independent councillor Alan Edge has set up a fundraiser called “Enough Enoch” in “ solidarity with LGBTQ+ and trans youth in particular, in the wake of the Enoch Burke saga”.

The High Court has imposed fines of €700-a-day on Mr Burke due to his defiance of court orders requiring him to stay away from Wilson’s Hospital School.

The schoolteacher has claimed he is being penalised for his opposition on religious grounds to transgenderism.

Cllr Edge hopes to raise “€700 to support two charities for each day Enoch Burke attends the school”.

“Coming out as trans has to be such a difficult time in a person’s life. The spectacle of having Enoch at the school gate makes a private thing very public. My thoughts are with the students.

“There have been a lot of memes going on and people are responding to it in lots of different ways.

“Enoch Burke is entitled to his beliefs, absolutely, but we have to remember there are people hurting at the centre of this and the students in Wilson’s Hospital are among them.”

Cllr Edge is hoping to use the money to “do something positive and constructive on behalf of trans youth”.

“The two organisations are TENI and LGBT Ireland. Both are helping in different ways. TENI, in terms of fighting for better health care, the provision of trans healthcare in Ireland is disgraceful. We’re an outlier in Europe on that,” he said.

“This is an issue that not a lot of people understand and that needs to be understood more. They do amazing work.

“LGBT Ireland do amazing work too, they look after a range of groups, migrants, travellers. They run a helpline too which is vital for people of all ages.”

As of February 1, Burke has racked up €3,500 in fines after arriving at the Westmeath school he was dismissed from for a sixth day in a row.