The election campaign trundled along in Northern Ireland this week, with the early part of the week tied up with continuing manifesto pledges on seeking an extra £1.5 Billion in funding for Northern Ireland from Sinn Fein, tax cuts and increased funding for mental health from the Ulster Unionists and the short lived ‘Busgate’ scandal where the DUP were criticised for using a London bus manufactured in Ballymena at a campaign launch. However all of the above were merely scene setters in comparison with the furore over the remarks made by Health Minister Jim Wells at a hustings event on Thursday night.
Speaking at an event in the South Down constituency, Mr Wells, who in the past has campaigned strongly in opposition to gay marriage, said the following - "You don't bring a child up in a homosexual relationship. That a child is far more likely to be abused and neglected...."
The minister was then interrupted by uproar from the audience. In a later statement, he said: "I accept that one line of what I said caused offence and deep concern.” He added: "I regret having wrongly made that remark about abuse and I'm sorry those words were uttered. The comment did not reflect my view nor that of my party." The police said they had received a complaint and officers were currently making enquiries.
Despite the fact that Mr Wells immediately retracted the comments, and issued a number of statements apologies and clarifying his comments, it’s true to say that the damage was done by this stage, and the comments have placed the party in a difficult position in the national context.
The long standing anti – gay marriage stance of the DUP had already received national attention earlier this week when the Prime Minister distanced himself strongly from the DUP position.
The general DUP stance is rarely noted outside Northern Ireland. However with the party being talked about on the national stage as a possible king maker post-election, the comments of the Prime Minister and the follow on from Minister Wells will surely get a lot of coverage in the coming days. The Prime Minister, if faced with having to call upon the DUP to help him form a government will have to move nimbly to avoid drawing criticism to himself on this issue. However I would speculate that in the heat of post election deal making, the Prime Minister might have many other problems to wrestle with, of which this will be merely one.
Jim Wells’ wife had a number of strokes a few months ago, and he has been maintaining a vigil at her bedside most evenings, while continuing his exceptionally challenging day job. I’m not for a moment suggesting that this is an excuse, but Mr Wells has said that he had come from her bedside to attend the hustings event, and was pre-occupied during the debate.
On a personal note, I know Jim Wells very well and have done so for some time. I have always found him exceptionally decent to deal with, and to genuinely care about ordinary people. However his views on a number of issues are hugely conservative, to a point which many find unpalatable. He has clearly seriously over stepped the mark on this occasion, and will have been relieved to see his party leader strongly defend him this morning. One would suspect however, that this story may run for a few days yet.