IRELAND AM PRESENTER Alan Hughes proposed to his boyfriend Karl Broderick live on the show this morning, during a discussion of marriage equality.
The longtime morning presenter asked the question on the Ireland AM sofa – apparently surprising even the other guests for the item.
The moment came after a discussion on marriage equality with guest Colm O’Gorman, executive director of Amnesty Ireland and a leading figure in the Yes campaign for the May referendum.
During the item, Alan and Karl had described how the year they met, homosexuality was still illegal in Ireland, adding: “We hid our relationship for years”. Hughes said when he was first on TV, he was advised “not to go telling people” he was gay.
The Marriage Bill 2015, which will allow same-sex couples to marry in Ireland for the first time, was signed into law last week.
Viewers were quick to congratulate the happy couple.
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Colm O’Gorman also tweeted congratulations following the proposal, suggesting he was unaware that Hughes had planned to pop the question after the interview.
“Thought Alan was a bit giddy!” he wrote.
Speaking after the proposal, Hughes said: “I just felt it was the right time with the week that’s in it, with the passing of the Marriage Bill.”
Last year, Hughes and Broderick - who were already joined in a civil partnership - told RSVP magazine that they still encountered verbal abuse on the street. “You just keep walking,” Hughes told the magazine.
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