Aphrodisiac Irish

“The Irish have long been labelled the most attractive people in the world" (news to me, too) "... – the funniest, friendliest and most charming race complete with an accent that’s an aphrodisiac abroad” (also news to me), but research by IllicitEncounters.com has revealed that British women are having affairs with Irish men for reasons beyond the lilt.

2,000 women in the UK were asked, ‘What’s the best race to have an Illicit Encounter with?’ and out of the 30 race options including French, Italian, Spanish, Greek and English, Irish came out on top with 23% of the votes. The top three reasons were 1) ‘Irish men make me laugh’ 2) ‘Irish men are very discrete’ 3) ‘Irish men are charming.’

The tenor of this response requires that we take a closer look: Although 460 women said the Irish were the best race to have an affair with, only 11% (50.6 women) would leave their husbands for them.

London was the top destination for a weekend rendezvous with more anonymity in a larger city while Manchester came in second and Edinburgh third.

“The results of this survey are extremely interesting” said Claire Page, Spokesperson for Illicit Encounters, “Everyone enjoys themselves around someone who can make them laugh. A sense of humour, which comes naturally to Irish men, is almost irresistible. Charm gets you everywhere! Most people are very good at making themselves look good at dinner parties but Oscar Wilde was good at making others feel good.

“Everyone wants to feel important and this is exactly what Irish men tend to do – make women feel important. It’s not difficult to see why British women are falling over themselves to have an affair with an Irish man!”

Psychologist Lucy Redford explained Irish men were so desirable because they were so attractive, not necessarily because of their appearance – “Good looks are purely physical attributes – in men, it’s a matter of facial symmetry, shoulder-to-waist ratio, height and outward signs of physical health”.

Attractiveness on the other hand is about the mind and how people respond to you, she believed. Being attractive is about charisma and the way you make people feel; in fact a study from Webster University found that it was behaviour that attracted people rather than just physical looks.

“Another interesting result was that the Irish men came out on top as most discrete,” said Lucy Redford, “This could be because they’re less attached to the women they’re having affairs with and discretion could be a natural bi-product of a long-distance relationship.”

Discrete?? Attractive?? Charming?? Closing Time feels sure that this will come as a surprise to most Irish women and not a few Irish publicans.