'Shame, shame, shame': Burke family confront Minister for Education in Donegal

Chris McNulty

Members of Enoch Burke’s family confronted the Minister for Education, Hildegarde Naughton, at two schools in Co Donegal on Friday.

Burke’s mother, Martina, and brother, Isaac, heckled the minister, who was at both Scoil Mhuire and Mulroy College in Milford.

The arrival of the Burkes in Donegal came a day after Enoch Burke’s dismissal from Wilson’s Hospital School in Co Westmeath was confirmed by a Disciplinary Appeal Panel.

Martina and Isaac Burke approached the minister as she left Scoil Mhuire, while footage showed Martina Burke using a loudspeaker and a microphone at the gates of Mulroy College.

“Shame, shame, shame,” she called to the minister as she left with an entourage that included TDs Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher (Fianna Fáil) and Charles Ward (100% Redress).

The Burkes could be heard criticising the make-up of a Disciplinary Appeals Panel which this week upheld Burke’s dismissal from the school.

“Shame upon every politician here today,” Martina Burke shouted. “You’re a shame to this country. You’re a disgrace to this country.”

Outside Mulroy College, the Burkes held posters showing Enoch Burke which read: “Enoch Burke. 687 days in prison.”

Members of An Garda Síochána were present as the minister left the Milford school.

A history and German teacher at the school, Burke has been incarcerated for refusing to obey a court injunction requiring him to stay away from the school.

Minister Naughton was in Donegal to meet with school personnel in Milford and at St Eunan’s College in Letterkenny, with those facilities seeking assistance to accommodation pressures.