Pop-up porn

WE’RE notorious for alcoholism, but we Irish are also becoming addicted to sex, fuelled primarily by online porn, which is easily accessed by smartphones.

Dublin’s Rutland Centre, Ireland’s largest private addiction rehabilitation facility, has seen a significant rise in the number of clients seeking treatment in the past four years. “Sex addiction is one of the most difficult and isolating addictions that you can experience,” says the centre’s clinical director, Dr Fiona Weldon. Although numbers are still small, they are steadily increasing. Four years ago, sex addicts were less than 1% of the clinic’s patients — now they are 4.5%.

A fixation on sex is not always taken seriously — people often smirk at the problems it caused for celebrities like Tiger Woods, Russell Brand or David Duchovny. “There’s a big stereotype about people having sex addiction,” she says. “I’ve heard phrases like, ‘It’s the best addiction to have, if you have an addiction’.”