ATTEMPTS to introduce same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland are set to be thwarted for at least another five years after First Minister Arlene Foster  said her party would continue to block a law change.

The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party said she would deploy the contentious vetoing mechanism, the petition of concern, in response to future legislative bids at Stormont.

Mrs. Foster insisted her party was not anti-gay, but said the torrent of online abuse she received from lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activists demanding a law change had made it even less likely for the DUP to support their calls.

“Some of the abuse that is directed at me and colleagues online is very, very vicious and I think if activists want to have a conversation about where they are coming from do they seriously think they are going to influence me by sending me abuse?

“No, they are not going to influence me by sending me abuse, in fact they are going to send me in the opposite direction and people need to reflect on that,” said Mrs. Foster in an interview with the Press Association’s David Young last week.

The Fermanagh-south Tyrone MLA said her willingness to use the petition of concern voting tool reflected her party’s strong determination to protect the traditional definition of marriage.

“Why would we, when we feel so strongly about the definition of marriage and the redefining of it, why would we give away that tool,” she said.

Although a slim majority of MLAs voted in favour of lifting the ban when it was debated for a fifth time last November, the proposal fell when the DUP deployed a petition.

A petition of concern was enshrined in Assembly structures as a way to protect minority interests. A valid petition requires the signatures of 30 MLAs.

The DUP has 38 seats, including the speaker, for the current mandate, which ends in 2021.

A number of Assembly members are hoping to launch further Assembly bids to change the law through private members’ bills this mandate.

But they too would flounder in the face of a valid petition.

“This is first and foremost an equality issue,” Sinn Féin’s Sean Lynch (pictured left) told Stormont Files.

“Sinn Féin is committed to seeing marriage equality extended across the island and we will continue to work toward full equality and human rights for our LGBT community,” concluded Mr Lynch.