The DUP MLA and Stormont Speaker Edwin Poots has issued a statement following the incident
The Burke family have been labelled “unbecoming and unbefitting” after reportedly attempting to doorstep DUP MLA Edwin Poots at his church.
Members of the family are said to have attended the South Belfast MLA’s place of worship shortly after he had left it on Sunday, something that Mr Poots did not feel was appropriate.
He said that he was available throughout the week to talk to the family if they wanted to make an appointment. He asked them to stop going to church meetings in the future to try to doorstep people.
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Following the incident, the MLA issued a statement on social media saying: “I am in my constituency office in south Belfast this morning dealing with issues on behalf of the local community. “Last night the Burke family came to my church shortly after I had left wishing to speak to myself. I would encourage the Burke Family if they wish to speak to me about political issues to contact our office and make an arrangement and I’ll happily meet them here in my office.
“I would add and encourage the family to desist from going to church meetings and gospel services where the gospel has just been preached to doorstep people. It is unbecoming, it is unbefitting and it is not the way that things should be done in a church setting.
“If people want to talk politics, they have got all week to do it, and I am here and available to do that. So I encourage the Burke family to contact me directly and engage with me directly, they don’t need to come and stand outside a church building to get me.”
The incident comes a few weeks after the family were accused of harassing the congregation at Hebron Free Presbyterian Church in Ballymoney.
In a statement following that incident, the church said the family’s actions were “totally out of order” and caused “great annoyance to the entire congregation”. Some children and elderly members were also allegedly evacuated from the church through a side door to avoid the family.
The Burke family from Castlebar, Co Mayo, came to prominence following the case of Enoch Burke, a former school teacher who was jailed for contempt of court after refusing to obey a court order following a legal dispute with Wilson Hospital School, where he had worked.
The family are known for their fundamentalist Christian beliefs and have been involved in a number of legal cases and protests surrounding this.
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