The chairperson, Andy Pike, said the three-person panel required time to adjudicate on detailed and complex submissions made at a preliminary hearing of the inquiry on Wednesday. Mr Burke had called on Mr Pike to recuse himself from chairing the inquiry on grounds of objective bias.

He separately applied for the panel as a whole to take similar action because he claimed they had breached their obligation to be independent due to their conduct and decisions during the preliminary stages of the inquiry.

Mr Burke told the hearing that it was “simply outrageous” to consider that Mr Pike could approach the hearing with a fair and impartial mind.

Andy Pike's social media posts

He claimed the chairperson had posted “another Enoch float” on his X (formerly Twitter) account on March 17, 2023, together with a link for a video which “mocked and parodied” him and his suspension from Wilson’s Hospital school.

Mr Burke said the post, which had 1,742 views, indicated the issue before the inquiry was “hilarious and a cause of amusement”. “He promoted that view publicly,” said Mr Burke.

He accused Mr Pike of finding the issue “a fit object of mirth” which he claimed was “preposterous and utterly hypocritical”. 

Mr Burke complained that he had been “dragged over the coals” and accused of bringing a profession he loved into disrepute, while Mr Pike was “laughing behind the scenes”. 

He claimed the Teaching Council was indulging a vexatious complaint against him for its own reasons which had turned the process into “a hypocritical witch hunt”. 

The inquiry heard Mr Pike had posted another tweet on July 25, 2018, in which he recommended that anyone with an interest in mental health or LGBT+ issues should follow the account of Neville Southall, the former Everton and Wales goalkeeper, as it was “the most positive Twitter feed I have ever seen”. 

Mr Burke noted Mr Southall had posted a comment just three days earlier about “making the world a little less binary”. 

He also took issue with a retweet by Mr Pike on November 27, 2025, about Wilson’s Hospital School by someone whom he claimed went out of their way to oppose his (Burke’s) position.

Mr Burke's complaints against panel

Mr Burke said the panel had blurred the lines in their obligation to be independent and impartial because of their interactions with the Teaching Council.

He made a similar complaint about the panel’s legal assessor, Lorna Lynch SC, whom he claimed was compromising the panel’s independence, while complaining that the panel’s two other members — Adrian Guinan and Clodagh O’Hara — had not asked him any questions at a previous hearing.

Mr Burke also claimed the complaint made to the Teaching Council which has resulted in him facing a fitness-to-teach inquiry was “frivolous, vexatious, made in bad faith and an abuse of process”. 

He told the panel that he had concerns about the bona fides of both Mr Pike and the Teaching Council.

Mr Burke said Mr Pike held a radical viewpoint on transgender issues which did not reflect the law of the land. 

In summary, he argued the chairperson had demonstrated a reasonable apprehension of bias, while his use of social media was not compatible with chairing the inquiry.

Teaching Council defence

In reply, however, counsel for the Teaching Council, Eoghan O’Sullivan BL, urged the panel to set aside Mr Burke’s “righteous indignation, hyperbole and poetic licence”. He claimed the teacher specialised in generality and details were “not the friend” of Mr Burke.

While the teacher was very fond of recourse to his own rights, Mr O’Sullivan said he had little regard for the rights of others.

Counsel stressed that the inquiry was not about “pronouns or religious beliefs” but about Mr Burke showing up repeatedly at his school after he had been suspended and in breach of court orders. Mr O’Sullivan accused him of repeatedly seeking to mischaracterise the purpose of the inquiry for his own agenda.

He said Mr Pike’s link about a St Patrick’s Day float was to an account which no longer exists, while his other tweet had not advocated anything about pronouns or transgenderism. Mr O’Sullivan pointed out the third tweet was about the good work of SNAs at Wilson’s Hospital and had nothing to do with issues before the inquiry.

He argued that two members of the panel not asking questions of Mr Burke could not be perceived as demonstrating bias, while Ms Lynch had made interventions to ensure he had got a fair hearing.

Mr O’Sullivan suggested that Mr Burke made claims of bias “as soon as someone disagrees with him”. 

Mr Burke was suspended by Wilson’s Hospital School in 2022 and later dismissed by the school last month over his refusal to follow a direction by the then school principal, Niamh McShane, to address a student by a new name as well as the pronouns “they” and “them” as well as his subsequent conduct with the principal.

The German and history teacher, who has spent over 700 days in prison over his refusal to obey court orders, maintains the request went against his religious beliefs as an evangelical Christian.