McAleese uses establishment voice to speak out on gay sexuality

IF Mary McAleese wanted to reach teenagers rendered miserable every day by knowing that they’re gay, she picked the wrong programme when she appeared on The Pat Kenny Show to talk about the topic.

Kids in their teens are rarely in a position to listen to that show, even when they’re not on their phones, their iPods, or music programmes. It is fair to assume, then, that her chosen audience wasn’t young gay men and women, but their parents and grandparents, as well as the Catholic Church.

It was an arresting interview. She sounded more presidential than when she was actually president of Ireland. Central to her argument was the prevalence of suicide among young Irish men, a factor often attributed to the overuse of alcohol by young men.