A survey has found that 70 per cent of LGBT teenagers between the ages of 14-18 have experienced suicidal thoughts in the past year.

The report reveals that intersex, transgender and bisexual people are more likely to try to end their lives than lesbian women and gay men.

Of those who are LGBT, 21 per cent have attempted suicide in their life with one quarter of these attempts occurring in the past year. The survey forms part of the LGBTIreland Report commissioned by gay rights and support groups GLEN and BelongTo, and funded by the HSE’s National Office for Suicide Prevention.

The report surveyed  2,264 LGBT people with data gathered from 53 per cent of those over 26 and 47 per cent aged between 18 and 25. The results also disclosed that 67 per cent of LBGTI people had witnessed bullying in their schools and half of those surveyed had experienced the anti-LGBT bullying personally.

Another upsetting result was that one in three gay men have been punched, hit or attacked in public. Contrary to these shocking figures, the report also states that the majority of LGBT over the age of 26 admitted to high levels of self-esteem and claimed that they were proud of their LGBT identity.

The report was launched by former president Dr Mary McAleese who told the Journal that “this scholarly report is as essential and revealing as it is horrifying.” “To be honest I’m not really (shocked) to hear these statistics because homophobia and stuff is still rampant throughout schools and that because 14-18 is the main age that teenagers come out to their parents and this effects their mental health”, chair of the DCU LGBT society, Hayley Halpin, said.

"People think that since the Marriage Referendum passed that there’s no issues now and that there’s no LGBT problems anymore but that’s not the case and a lot more still needs to be done", she added.