This is our exclusive picture taken just moments before disgraced poet Cathal O Searcaigh bizarrely claimed, "I had hardly any sex with anybody of 16".

The once reputable poet's name was tarnished last year following the Fairytale of Kathmandu, a controversial documentary by Donegal film-maker Neasa Ni Chianain, which portrayed his relationship with Nepalese teenage boys as sexually exploitative.

In a revealing interview, O Searcaigh initially denied that he had slept with teenagers of 16, insisting that all his conquests were "above the age of consent and I slept with very very few".

However, as the exchange became more probing, O Searcaigh stumbled on his words, before blurting out: "I had hardly any sex with anybody of 16, this is the thing. I am being persecuted for things that I did not do because of the whole slant that's been put on things."

O Searcaigh continued by asserting the relationships he had with the teenagers had nothing to do with his patronage, saying, "anybody I have had relations with, it has been honourable, it has been a loving, affectionate, comradely relationship".

When questioned about the morality of having a relationship with a 16-year-old, he blamed "westernised preconceptions" and retorted with some accusations of his own, "this is all ageism that you're talking about".

He declared: "I am a gay man. Gay people have an ability, I believe firmly I have an ability to be an emotional contemporary of people who are much younger than me.

"I just love their company, the gentleness of these people."

In a further interview to be broadcast tonight on Newstalk's Culture Shock show with Fionn Davenport, O Searcaigh revealed that he intends to return to Nepal when he can afford to do so.

Gratification

"I am not a sex tourist ... I resent being called that. Sex tourism is about going to some place, it's instant gratification, it is paying for sex and then saying goodbye, I have never, ever done that.

"I have been going to Nepal for 12 years, I have sustained people over 12 years, it is not instant gratification.

"I have given of all that I have to people there and I resent this whole idea of sex tourism. Sex tourism is about that instant gratification, and I have a humane tenderness towards people, but I have been pilloried and put into this situation by a very unscrupulous film and I am trying to extricate myself from it," he insisted.

The poet went on to criticise Ni Chianain for betraying his trust and putting a "spin on it".

hnews@herald.ie

- Stuart Holly