Taoiseach Micheál Martin has downplayed the impact of the disruption caused when the Burke family were forcibly removed from a gala dinner he was attending in Washington. Three members of the Co. Mayo family were intercepted by security personnel and police as they entered the floor of the Ireland Funds event in the US capital

Micheál Martin said the Burke family’s attempt to enter the floor of the Ireland Funds event was ‘regrettable’.

Members of the Burke family accused Taoiseach Micheál Martin and the Irish government of imprisoning their son Enoch Burke after disrupting the $1,000 a plate Ireland Funds dinner in Washington DC.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the Ireland Funds gala dinner in Washington DC last night was not significantly disrupted by the Burke family's protest at the event.

Isaac and Ami Burke, along with their mother Martina, interrupted event attended by Taoiseach in protest at the imprisonment of Enoch Burke

Micheál Martin defended the security arrangements in place at a gala in Washington and the quick action taken by personnel when the family of Enoch Burke crashed the event. The Taoiseach was at the Ireland Funds Gala dinner when the controversial Mayo family stormed the event on Thursday night.

Members of the evangelical Burke family were dragged out of a gala dinner in the US after they broke into the event to accost the Taoiseach. Enoch Burke was jailed for contempt of court after he was ordered to stay away from Wilson’s Hospital School in the midlands;