Former Irish presidential candidate, David Norris, has claimed that revolutionary leader Michael Collins may have been a homosexual.

Collins, a key figure in Irish history, played a crucial role in establishing the Irish free state in the 1920s. He was killed in August 22, 1922 in an ambush attack at Béal na mBláth in Co. Cork.

Norris, an Irish Senator and gay rights activist made the claims in his newly published autobiography.

Norris writes in his new book ‘A Kick Against the Pricks’ about an incident where he claims he chatted to an elderly man who said he had been “one of Mr Collins’ principal boyfriends.”

“Other heroes of Irish nationalism were also less than 100 per cent heterosexual.

“If Michael Collins was gay or bisexual – so what? Who cares? It shouldn’t matter as it is just a neutral fact,” he wrote.

“It certainly isn’t a slur, and the vast majority of the Irish people no longer regard it as such.”

Roger Casementwas gay and possibly Patrick Pearse.

Meanwhile, a Sinn Fein spokesman dismissed the claim as speculation.

“Speculating on what was some historical person’s sexuality is the stuff of the tabloid media,” a spokesman said.

Here's a video dedicated to Michael Collins: