RadioScope The Tubridy ShowRTÉ Radio One, 9am, Thursday October 25th
Irish women in their 30s: are they slobs, desperate to get their hands on a man at any price? That's the sort of impression I took away from this discussion with bachelors on Ryan Tubridy's radio show. I'm afraid the views of the two bachelors in the studio, Paul and Joe, will have made them few friends among the female of the species.
Paul (39) is a property developer which must make him a desirable catch in our society. He has left a long-term relationship and is single.
Irishwomen are badly dressed, they wear baggy trousers and flat shoes and have short hair, he complained to Tubridy in the text message that got him onto the programme.
When Tubridy asked him to read out the text he amended "Irish women" to "some Irish women" but this may not be enough to spare him the wrath of females scorned.
Joe complained about women in their early 30s, in a rush to get married and have kids. During the Golden Minute - the first minute of an encounter, he explained - these women size up the suitability of any potential new partner. I'm not quite sure how they do this - perhaps they look at him with an odd squint or something - but Joe reckons he can sense this going on.
The ones who are the most desperate are the ones who don't look after themselves, Paul chimed in diplomatically.
Tubridy had interviewed single women the previous week and, judging by the segment he played back to the bachelors, they are as critical of men as the men are of the women. Irishmen, they said, don't know how to flirt, have an underlying shyness, tend to be rude and once women get to a certain age they (the women) become invisible.
Is there a clue in all this as to why these people, men and women, have not yet found permanent partners?
Mind you, Joe doesn't seem to be in a hurry. It's great, he declared, to be able to watch whatever you want on TV all day long and to give yourself lots of space - a declaration which probably brought a nostalgic twinge to some male, married listeners. In fact, he feared, there is a danger you could get so fond of this life that you could end up permanently on your own but that's not what he wants.
Chris, who is 50, found it harder to meet Irish women as he got older so he went to England to meet the apparently less ageist women there. He is now living in the Isle of Wight where he seems to be surrounded by interested females.
And Paul informed us that the new trend among Irish guys is to go out with East European girls. They're very slim, he said, and they look better than their Irish counterparts. So there.
You can hear the programme again at www.rte.ie/radio/thetubridyshow/
Review by the counsellor and quite slim Padraig O'Morain