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

Martina, Ammi, and Isaac Burke gatecrashed the dinner, which was being held in the National Building Museum on Thursday evening. They had been protesting outside as guests were arriving, but they later made their way into the gala in the middle of a speech from NFL Coach Dan Quinn.

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

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

The controversial Burke family, who have been protesting outside the White House this week, crashed the The Ireland Funds gala dinner in Washington DC 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;