NORTHERN IRELAND’S MINISTER for Health has said that children brought up by parents in a same-sex relationship are “far more likely” to be subject to abuse.

Speaking at a hustings event yesterday evening in his constituency of South Down, Wells said that the mistreatment of children could arise from the unstable nature of same-sex relationships.

.@LADFLEG Audio enhanced. Jim Wells says gay couples are "more likely to raise abused and neglected children" https://t.co/KWRCPgmRgG — RoadRunner (@roadrunner_83) April 24, 2015 Source: RoadRunner /Twitter

On this, the DUP MLA said:

The facts show that certainly you don’t bring a child up in a homosexual relationship. The child is far more likely to be abused and neglected… a child is far more likely to be abused or neglected in a non-stable marriage.

The Minister’s comments led to a substantial backlash on social media, with attention being drawn to a potential coalition or voting pact between the DUP and the Conservative Party following the UK general election.

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Wells has subsequently issued an apology for his comments.

In a statement to the BBC this morning, Wells has said that, “I had just come from a hospital visit and my focus was not on the debate… during the event I received several messages from the hospital.”