The year of finding your other half

THERE are two times in the year when single people get serious about trying to find a partner.

Now, when they’re full of New Year gusto, and in August, when maybe they’ve been to a wedding alone or are back from their summer holiday jaunt. In January, according to the Irish dating website, maybefriends.com, there is usually a 30% spike in activity.

There are, based on the latest available census figures, about 707,000 single people between the ages of 25 and 54 in Ireland. A lot of them are lonesome. “People are awful lonely,” admits Claire Daly, daughter of the famous Lisdoonvarna matchmaker Willie Daly, a farmer who has spent 40 years hooking up idle lovers. Claire Daly is the fourth generation of her family to enter into the dating game, having launched a dating website to underpin her business two years ago. Business is so brisk that she’s roped her two sisters into her enterprise.