Former Fianna Fáíl minister Pat Carey has spoken out publicly about his sexuality.
The 67-year-old stated that it was time for him to speak ahead of the May referendum and that he hopes to help other people of his generation.
He revealed that he did not speak out before as he “didn’t have the courage”.
“In terms of coming out, or whatever it was – a lot of people who are close-ish to me and who work with me would know it from early 2011 that I’m gay,” he explained to Sean O’Rourke of RTÉ.
“But to be frank about it, I didn’t have the courage or the confidence to talk about it to a wider audience, maybe.
“I’m sorry about that.”
He added that Leo Varadkar’s interview a number of weeks ago helped to give him the courage to speak out.
“I said that if I got the opportunity – I said it to myself, I didn’t say it to anybody else – that maybe my perspective might be helpful to people of my age.
He continued by saying that he believes there are “lots of men – and indeed women – of my generation who had the same difficulty that I had in terms of trying to come to terms with how you articulate your gender issues”.
“I also tried to deliberately stay out of public comment over the last few years and I don’t intend to enter it now really other than to say that if my experience or something like it can help others who might have difficulties or it might give another perspective to the referendum campaign then [I’ll bring] whatever authority I can to it.
“To be honest,” he reflected. “I think this referendum will be won by the mothers of Ireland.”
