The Scottish Government has published a written request from DUP leader Arlene Foster asking that it restrict gay couples from Northern Ireland converting their civil partnerships to same sex marriages in Scotland.
The publication comes days after Mrs Foster said she had no recollection of sending such correspondence to the administration in Edinburgh.
The letter, written in September 2015 when Mrs Foster was Stormont finance minister, urged then Scottish local government minister Marco Biagi to exclude Northern Ireland-based couples from legislation that enabled people in civil partnerships to convert those unions to same sex marriages.
Read more: Independence referendum plans statement 'likely' before Holyrood recess
Mr Biagi tweeted about the existence of the letter in the wake of the General Election, amid increased UK-wide focus on the DUP's conservative stance on social issues such as gay marriage.
But in a radio interview last week, the former Stormont first minister denied sending such a letter.
"I'm not quite sure what he (Mr Biagi) was referring to but it certainly wasn't a letter from me and I've no recollection of a letter from me," she told BBC Radio Ulster's Inside Politics show.
"If I'd written to him officially as minister of finance or something like that around recognition laws here in Northern Ireland, I have no recollection of it. I certainly didn't write in a personal capacity."
The letter dated September 4 2015 released by the Scottish Government on Tuesday is signed by Mrs Foster.
It was a follow-up to a letter from her predecessor as finance minister, the DUP's Simon Hamilton. Mr Hamilton's letter has also been made public.
Read more: Independence referendum plans statement 'likely' before Holyrood recess
The letters did not cite moral or political objections to the proposed legislation in Scotland, but highlighted potential legal issues.
They said complications could arise from couples having "dual status", where they are recognised as civil partners in Northern Ireland but as married in Scotland.
Mrs Foster wrote: "I'm sure neither of us would wish to place same sex couple in an uncertain legal position, which maybe difficult and expensive to resolve."
Mr Biagi rejected the request from the Northern Ireland ministers.
Read more: Independence referendum plans statement 'likely' before Holyrood recess
In his reply to Mrs Foster, dated November 24 2015, he said it would "not be appropriate" to exclude Northern Ireland couples from availing of the legislation.
Stormont's department of finance has responsibility for marriage regulations in Northern Ireland.
In response to the publication, a DUP spokesman said: "This correspondence was exploring technical legal matters and was not personally driven by the minister.
"Marriage legislation is a fully devolved matter for the Northern Ireland Assembly."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel