New First Minister for Northern Ireland has insisted that same-sex marriage is “not at the top” of her in-tray

Arlene Foster is a member of DUP,  the party continuing to block progress on the issue of same-sex marriage.

Northern Ireland is now the only place in the United Kingdom where same-sex weddings are not allowed.

Last year a majority of the Northern Irish Assembly voted in favour of equal marriage but the Democratic Unionist Party used a ‘petition of concern’  to strike proposals down for the fifth time.

This week former DUP First Minister Peter Robinson stepped down and Arlene Foster took his place but the new leader told the News Letter that the issue of marriage equality is not a “priority”.

“Obviously it’s not on the agenda in terms of a vote coming up any time soon. We will of course look at that when it does come up. But our position in relation to those issues has not changed by my coming in.”

The First Minister added: “Just because we believe in the traditional view of marriage doesn’t mean that we denigrate anyone who doesn’t agree with that – not in any one way, nor will we under my leadership be discriminating against anyone in terms of their sexuality or their way of life or whatever you may want to say.”

However, when asked if traditional views on marriage were a core part of the party’s identity, she said: “The DUP is – and we make no apology for this – founded on very strong Christian values as you know. We as a party will continue to have those very strong Christian values and part of that is in and around the traditional view in terms of marriage.”