Marital infidelity appears to be rife in Ireland, with nearly 1,000 unfaithful spouses signing up every month to an infamous dating site for love cheats.
More than 240,000 people here have used Ashley Madison since its launch in 2010, including up to 250- per-week since the start of this year.
The adultery site, whose motto is “Life is short, have an affair”, hit the headlines all over the world in 2015 after a massive data leak.
But the service’s chiefs insist the hacking setback has not dented the demand for the service, with total global sign-ups hitting 65 million.
Following a tightening of the site’s security, cheaters appear to be flocking to the site in greater numbers than ever before – with Ireland one of its biggest markets in terms of numbers per capita.
Newly-released figures from the service rank Ireland as the eighth largest European market.
But Ireland, as the smallest nation in the table in terms of population, has a higher per capita ratio than bigger countries such as the UK.
Further scrutiny of the figures reveals 56% of members are from Dublin.
The platform, which is free for female users, attracts slightly more men than women, with the bulk aged between 18 and 40.
Chief Christoph Kraemer said: “It is striking how successful we’ve been in Ireland, with a disproportionate number of sign-ups in terms of the population.
“As things stand, we are poised to close to 1,000 monthly sign-ups from the Republic of Ireland for 2019.
“The UK is our leading European market, but the percentage of the UK population over 20-years-old that is an Ashley Madison member is 4.7%, whereas it’s 6.1% in Ireland.
“Traditionally we do well in countries which are considered conservative, and Ireland, which has a relatively low divorce rate, fits into that definition.
“I think it’s still a taboo in some parts of Ireland to be seen to stray outside your marriage, which means married couples are probably under more pressure to stay together, even if they’re miserable.
“But with our service, people can have an affair withouot anyone else knowing about it.”
