Who is Simeon Burke, the younger brother of Enoch arrested after scenes at Court of Appeal?
Independent.ie
07/03/2023
There were scenes of utter chaos in the Court of Appeal on Tuesday as former schoolteacher Enoch Burke had his appeal against High Court injunctions directing him not to trespass at a Co Westmeath school refused.
In the ensuing mayhem, which saw members of Mr Burke’s family dragged from the courthouse by gardaí, a younger brother of Enoch was arrested, accused of threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour towards gardaí.
Simeon Burke (24) was brought before Dublin District Court on Tuesday evening accused of causing a breach of the peace. He was granted bail but refused to sign the bail bond so is now remanded in custody and will appear before the courts again next Tuesday.
Simeon is the younger brother of Enoch and studied Civil Law in NUIG, where his duration of study was not without controversy.
In 2021, Simeon ran in the election to be president of the Student Union, and during the campaign, a photoshopped image was posted online appearing to depict Simeon holding a poster with sexually explicit words.
The post was later found to be in breach of the university’s code of conduct and was removed from social media by the student who posted it, but not before People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy retweeted it.
Simeon called for an Oireachtas committee to investigate Murphy but they refused, which he deemed “shameful”.
An investigation into the incident by NUIG saw 10 students sanctioned, with some ordered to pay fines and write letters of apology to Simeon.
Four of Simeon’s older siblings, including Enoch, were previously barred for life from joining any societies in NUIG after they handed out leaflets with the college’s logo printed on it, which was found to be a breach of the code of conduct and a misrepresentation of the college.
A number of NUIG students had complained about the leaflets to the college, which were against gay marriage.
A Galway District Court sitting dismissed Enoch, Ammi, Isaac and Kezia Burke’s claim that they were banned due to their religious beliefs, which would have constituted discrimination.
Independent.ie
