Controversial writer Julie Burchill has hit back after she was accused of whipping up racial hatred against the Irish in a newspaper article.

Police are investigating a complaint by social worker John Twomey, who believes her article broke Section 70 of the 1976 Race Relations Act.

Ms Burchill, who lives in Hove, told us: "I stand by every word I said, which was a critique of the Irish state and its perverted priests, not of the Irish people."

Mr Twomey complained to police after reading the article by Ms Burchill about Irish celebrations of St Patrick's Day.

Ms Burchill wrote that the event celebrates "almost compulsory child molestation by the national church, total discrimination against women who wish to be priests, aiding and abetting Herr Hitler in his hour of need, and outlawing abortion and divorce."

The article, published in the Guardian on June 29, also refers to the Irish flag as "the Hitler-licking, altarboy-molesting, abortion-banning Irish tricolour."

Ms Burchill's weekly column protested about how much London mayor Ken Livingstone spent on marking St Patrick's Day.

Mr Twomey, who is based at the London Irish Centre, said: "I'm convinced that a crime has occurred. I don't accept that this was merely an article against the church. It was against all Irish people.

"There has to be room for journalistic licence and fair comment, but this went over the line.

"Irish people have suffered more than their fair share of racial hatred in the UK. This article was so vehement, it can only stir up more."

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said officers had submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service and were waiting for advice.

A copy of the complaint has been forwarded to Commander Cressida Dick, head of the diversity department at Scotland Yard.

Ms Burchill has accused Mr Twomey of "quite detestably and unfairly using the Race Relations Act in an attempt to stifle all criticism of the Catholic Church". She intends to fight the case.

The Press Complaints Commission has rejected three complaints about the article, judging the piece "general comment" outside its remit.

Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, said: "Anyone who has read more than a couple of her sentences knows Julie Burchill frequently indulges in over-the-top, iconoclastic polemic.

"That is why she both irritates and exhilarates her readers, not all of whom take everything she writes absolutely literally.

"Although we are aware that the police have received a complaint from John Twomey, we have heard nothing formally."