Enoch Burke released from Mountjoy Prison

Enoch Burke leaving court with family members after he was released on Friday. Photograph: Fran Veale

The controversial schoolteacher Enoch Burke has been released after more than 400 days in prison for contempt of court.

Mr Justice Mark Sanfey said he was releasing Mr Burke at the end of a hearing where the schoolteacher, suspended from Wilson’s Hospital School, Co Meath, is seeking to challenge an earlier ruling of the court.

The judge said he was releasing Mr Burke despite his not having purged his contempt as he did not want to leave him in prison when there was no reason to.

Mr Burke has been held in jail because of his refusal to stay away from the school where he was suspended from duty after getting into a dispute with it over his being told to address a student as “they”, saying it was contrary to his Christian beliefs.

At the end of the hearing on Friday, Mr Justice Sanfey was told that the students at the school were currently on holiday and would not be returning until the end of August.

The judge said that if there is a further breach of the order that Mr Burke stay away from the school, he would expect a new application to the court from the school. He said that at all times Mr Burke had been kept in prison because of his refusal to agree to stay away from the school.

The judge has reserved his judgment in relation to the application being made by Mr Burke, who was accompanied in court by his parents and other members of his family.

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Colm Keena is an Irish Times journalist. He was previously legal-affairs correspondent and public-affairs correspondent