Alliance Party leader, Naomi Long, is to undergo surgery for aggressive endometriosis.

In a statement, Ms Long revealed she was originally meant to be admitted in January, however the collapse of the Assembly and the General Election postponed her plans.

The East Belfast MLA added she will be spending 8 to 10 weeks recuperating following her surgery.

Ms Long said: "I suffer from very aggressive endometriosis and have done so most of my adult life; however, the chronic pain and other symptoms of the condition have become increasingly severe and hard to manage over the last few years, resulting in a couple of emergency admissions to hospital, and it has generally become quite debilitating, so I've decided that surgery is now the best option.

"I was originally due to be admitted in January; however, due to the collapse of the Assembly and elections, I postponed until April. Then the General Election was called, and I had to postpone again for that campaign and the talks process.

"However, I now need to put my health first and am hopefully having my operation on Tuesday. It's routine but quite big surgery, with a slow recovery time, so I will be off work for about 8-10 weeks recouperating.

"I will also be taking a social media break for at least some of that time though maybe not all of it so if you need assistance please use the contacts below, as I won't be picking up messages here or on my mobile for the next while.

"Thanks for your understanding and no doubt my self imposed social media ban will be broken soon enough."

(LM/JP)