Mr. John Duffy:

I thank the Chairman and committee for inviting BeLonG To to attend today. We are always happy to contribute to proceedings which can have a positive impact on the lives of the young people with whom we work. I thank the committee for making it possible for a young person from our service, Ms Arianna Gallagher, to speak today as we in BeLonG To feel that it is extremely important to hear directly from the young people with whom we work and to give them an opportunity to share their voices on issues such as this.

Before I move onto the substance of my presentation, I would like to share a few things about the organisation I am representing today. BeLonG To is a national lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and non-binary, LGBT youth organisation. Our service is based here in Dublin but we also provide services across the country, which are vital supports for LGBT+ youth, including in the area of mental health. We work with many Departments and other partners in order that Ireland's LGBT young people may live in a place where they are equal, safe and valued in the diversity of their identities and experiences.

To achieve this vision we work with LGBT+ young people as equals in the context of three broad pillars. The first pillar is the youth services which we provide through groups in which our youth workers work with young people on the basis of equal partnership. The second pillar is about changing attitudes through our campaigns in support of young people being themselves and through giving them opportunities to talk about the lives and settings of themselves and their peers, such as the opportunity Ms Gallagher will have today. The final pillar relates to research which enables us to shed light on the lived reality of what it is like to be a young LGBT+ person in Ireland today.

I will now share some statistics which are pertinent to today's discussions. These come from a 2016 report by Dr. Agnes Higgins et al. entitled "The LGBTIreland Report: national study of the mental health and wellbeing of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in Ireland". This study was commissioned in part by BeLonG To and was funded by the HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention. This study raised a number of key issues in respect of LGBT+ youth. First, it reinforced previous research which indicated the most common age for LGBT+ young people to become aware of their identities is 12, regardless of whether that identity is transgender or lesbian, gay or bisexual. The most common age at which to come out was 16. With respect to coming out, this represents a drop of one year in the average since the previous large-scale national study of lesbian, gay and bisexual people, which was carried out in 2009. In respect of that period between 12 and 16 there is concern about how young people are coping with their identity and how they are beginning to accept it. Having to hide that significant part of themselves from others can cause some difficulty, particularly with regard to mental health.

Despite the encouraging fact that young people are coming out at an earlier age, there are still many difficulties which LGBT+ people can encounter in Irish society. According to the research, 50% of LGBT+ students have personally experienced anti-LGBT bullying within their schools. Those that had experienced bullying had higher levels of depression, anxiety, stress and alcohol use. They were also 12% more likely to self-harm and 19% more likely to have attempted suicide. In comparison with the general youth population, LGBT+ young people had twice the level of self-harm overall, so we are looking at something like 56% of LGBT young people aged 14 to 18 having self-harmed. They also had three times the level of attempted suicide, which equates to approximately one in three 14 to 18 year olds, which is again quite a shocking statistic. They also had four times the level of severe or extremely severe stress, anxiety and depression.

Dr. Mary McAleese, in launching the LGBTIreland report, said:

this scholarly report is as essential and revealing as it is horrifying. The ongoing damage is undeniable. That it involves so many young people is tragic. That it is soluble is the good news.

I would like to echo these words today, as the issues that LGBT+ young people face do have solutions. We in BeLonG To have been working with partner organisations such as Jigsaw in the delivery of LGBT+ mental health training to professionals and with Pieta House in the provision of an in-house counselling service to LGBT+ young people who are experiencing issues around self-harm and suicidal ideation. We are very grateful for their support.

There are, however, many issues which need to be resolved. Ms Arianna Gallagher, who is 15 and who has been in our service since last year, will now speak on some of the issues which young people who access our services face directly and the ways in which we, as an organisation, try to support them.