Former president Mary McAleese has said there is “a great debt” owed to young gay people who have “been forced into the shadows” and “into self-doubt” by society’s attitudes towards homosexuality - with young gay men "most at risk" of suicide. 

In an exclusive interview with The Right Hook, in which she called for a yes vote in the May 22nd same-sex marriage referendum, Ms McAleese pointed to the high rate of suicide and self-harm in young gay men as a result of the attitudes in the Catholic Church, and society, towards homosexuality. Telling George Hook demanded a change in attitudes to homosexuality, in the hope of eroding the persecution and isolation that can be at the root of mental health issues, leading to self-harm and suicide young gay people.

“We have in Ireland a very serious problem of youth suicide, particularly of male suicide, and we now know from the evidence that one of the most at risk groups of cohorts within that age group - sort of 15-25 - is the young male homosexual,” she said.

“We owe those children a huge debt as adults” she said, adding that Ireland must allows those individuals to “have opportunities to make choices that impact their lives, to make the right choices, choices that will allow their lives to grow organically.”

The former president said a Yes vote would give gay people, “the joy of being full citizens in their own country”.

Ms McAleese, who is currently completing a doctorate in Canon Law at Notre Dame University in the United Sates, said the ostracising Church attitude in particular could be devastatingly harmful to the mental health and well-being of a gay person raised in the faith.

“(It) is a terrible thing for a young person who has grown up in the church and being told they are loved absolutely, to discover at 15,16 or 17 that all the language they have heard, particularly the homophobic language that they may have heard ... applies to them,” she said.