Igniting the response to the lost boys crisis in Northern Ireland

From the opening chapter of the Bible, scripture affirms that male and female are created in God’s image, entrusted with purpose and responsibility over creation. Even after the fall, the Bible offers many examples of positive masculinity — men who act with courage, integrity and faithfulness.

Beyond scripture, history across cultures also provides strong models of virtuous masculinity. By contrast, the Lost Boys report reveals how far this sense of positive masculine identity has eroded. Many men now find themselves in a crisis of value and purpose. Reflecting this decline in societal esteem, half of men aged 18 – 24 surveyed said men are too often portrayed in the media as ​“a bit pathetic.”

While Lost Boys focuses on England and Wales, many of the same challenges affect young men in Northern Ireland, intensified by its post-conflict context. In response, we co-hosted Igniting the Response to the Lost Boys Crisis in Belfast, bringing together 130 stakeholders, including MLAs, policymakers and faith leaders.

Contributions from Luke Taylor, mental health professionals, and representatives from policing, business and youth work explored the crisis as an international phenomenon and identified three key ways the Northern Ireland context differs from England and Wales.
 

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1. Employment and educational challenges amongst the male working class

Despite strong educational performance in Northern Ireland, outcomes are heavily gendered and classed. Boys in all communities are outperformed by girls at every age, and the Protestant and Catholic male working class achieve the worst results in the country. In 2020 – 21 just under 60% of Catholic free school meal boys left school with 5 GCSEs and for Protestants that number is below half.

This is particularly problematic due to the decline of the traditionally masculine, skills-based manufacturing sectors, which were once an accessible employment prospect. As a result, Northern Ireland’s economic inactivity rate is higher than the UK average, especially amongst working-class men.

2. A male-dominated suicide crisis

Northern Ireland’s male suicide rate is consistently higher than England and Wales. In 2024, the male suicide rate was 24.2 per 100,000 in Northern Ireland and 17.1 in England and Wales comparatively. Experts cite the psychological impact of The Troubles, economic inactivity and the exploitative presence of paramilitaries as key contributing factors. 
 

3. Higher rates of pornography use and violence against women and girls

Finally, the event considered Northern Ireland’s high pornography consumption as symptomatic of an increasingly fractured conception of relationships. Mass observation by Ofcom in May 2024 identified Northern Irish males as the most likely group to access porn in the UK. This is particularly concerning as both the report and a 2021 government literature review described increasingly violent trends in the type of content consumed.

There is also the growing epidemic of violence against women and girls (VAWG) and the acute issue of femicide in which twenty-eight women have been killed since 2020, all but one being by a man.

Looking to the future

Despite sobering findings, the Lost Boys report is a vital first step in recognising the wide-ranging challenges faced by the lost boys, both in Northern Ireland and in the rest of the UK. It provides a crucial foundation to allow these challenges to be better understood, and begin to be addressed with hope, imagination and hard work.

We continue to work with our friends at RUMbLE, responding to the lost boys crisis in Northern Ireland. Plans for a policy-discussion at Stormont are also underway.