PSNI investigating alleged incident involving Enoch Burke

The Police Service of Northern Ireland is investigating an allegation of assault following an incident involving Enoch Burke and the Church of Ireland Primate.

A complaint was made to police after Mr Burke turned up at the cathedral in Armagh yesterday.

A social media video appears to show Enoch Burke remonstrating with the Reverend John McDowell.

The church said the episode had unfolded in the grounds of the cathedral. Social media indicated it continued to the door of the archbishop's residence.

A PSNI spokesperson confirmed that an investigation is under way.

A spokesperson for the PSNI said: "Police are investigating a report of an assault on a member of the clergy at St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh."

The spokesperson added that "police inquiries are ongoing".

Mr Burke can be heard asking Archbishop McDowell why he had been silent while Mr Burke had spent 700 days in prison following a dispute with his former employers at Wilson's Hospital School - a Church of Ireland-run secondary school in Co Westmeath.

Mr Burke was jailed for breaching court orders not to attend the school having been dismissed.

The Church of Ireland said Mr Burke and members of his family had approached the Archbishop following a funeral service he had been attending for a colleague.

In a statement, the Church said: "It is a matter of deep concern and sadness that the Burke family considered this was an appropriate occasion to confront the Archbishop.

"No respect was shown for the occasion or the sanctity of the cathedral grounds.

"Archbishop McDowell, other members of the Church who were present, and the Church's authorities, will assist with the PSNI’s enquiries.

"The Church of Ireland will not be making any further statement until the police investigation is complete."

Enoch Burke said in a statement: "As a teacher in a Church of Ireland school, I was informed by the principal that 'it is expected' that I use the 'they' pronoun for a child.

"The official Church of Ireland teaching is very clearly male and female.

"I refused to deny my Christian belief and as a result was taken from the school to the courts to prison to spend since that time over 700 days behind bars."

He added: "The silence of Archbishop John McDowell, Primate of All-Ireland and Patron of Wilson's Hospital School, is astounding and no longer acceptable.

"For that reason I confronted him in Armagh yesterday. He must speak out and explain why anti-Christian ideology is promoted and affirmed in Church of Ireland schools despite the Christian ethos."