He was a member of the European Parliament for the South constituency in Ireland between 2007 and 2009.[2] He was appointed in June 2007, following the re-election of the outgoing MEPSimon Coveney to Dáil Éireann. Following the abolition of the dual mandate, Coveney opted to remain in national politics and resigned from the European Parliament. Burke subsequently sat as a Fine Gael and European People's Party MEP. He served on various European Parliament committees including Committee on Foreign Affairs, Internal Market & Consumer Protection (Substitute), Committee on Fisheries (Substitute Member) and Subcommittee on Human Rights (Substitute Member). Burke lost his seat at the 2009 European Parliament election, with Fine Gael party colleague Seán Kelly taking a seat instead.[3]
Burke was a member of Cork City Council from 1999 to 2007 and served as Lord Mayor of Cork from 2003 to 2004.[4] He was elected to Seanad Éireann in April 2011 and re-elected in 2016. He was the Fine Gael Seanad Spokesperson on Health.
In July 2024, Burke, who had voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment in 2018, reported that he had been denied Holy Communion and informed that he was excommunicated during a funeral mass for a fellow Fine Gael member. The priest responsible for the incident would later confirm that his actions were in response to Burke's "support for abortion". The Association of Catholic Priests "unambiguously" condemned the incident and said that it was "not the role of the priest to judge the conscience of another person. The priest does not own the Eucharist".[10][11]
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