Kieran McCarthy MLA said: “Edwin Poots’ credibility as Health Minister is being undermined through successive failures in legal cases around the approach he is taking on social matters.
“How can the Minister give the Assembly and the people of Northern Ireland any confidence that he is approaching social issues on a rational, objective, evidence-based manner rather than imposing his own personal views on others?
“I hope that the lifetime ban on gay men donating blood will be urgently removed. The Minister has now claimed that it is now up to the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to resolve this issue, yet why was this not the case last week when he challenged the court case?
“I hope this case will also convince the Minister to cease his legal action against adoption by civil partners.”
ENDS