David Norris, the first openly gay candidate for the presidency of Ireland, has abandoned his campaign.

Mr Norris decided to quit the race after mounting pressure and calls for him to go.

Last week, it emerged Mr Norris wrote to an Israeli court pleading for clemency for his former partner Ezra Yizhak.

Yizhak had been accused of the statutory rape of a 15-year-old boy Palestinian boy in 1992.