The Supreme Court ruling has significant implications for single-sex spaces in Great Britain, such as female changing rooms and toilets. The court had been asked to decide on the proper interpretation of the 2010 Equality Act, which applies across Great Britain but not in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland's Equality Commission has said it aims to publish new formal guidance in June.

Speaking in the assembly, Buckley welcomed the "unanimous, landmark ruling". He added: "How ridiculous have things become that it took the UK Supreme Court to rule on the definition of a woman – something that the vast majority of people already knew the answer to." The member of the legislative assembly (MLA) accused other Stormont parties of promoting a "warped and dangerous ideology" on gender issues.

O'Neill called for "sensitivity" in the debate, saying that transgender people were "feeling quite attacked right now". "These are complex issues and we need to work our way through the outworking of the Supreme Court ruling," she said. The Sinn Féin MLA added: "We ourselves have sought advice from our own officials.

"We await the Equality Commission's ruling and guidance because I think that will be important for everybody in terms of how we would respond to this in a wider way."