More than 4,000 Irish female students have signed up to a “sugar daddy” dating service where young women are paired off with wealthy, usually much older, international businessmen.
The website, SeekingArrangement.com, is based in the States and has clocked up 4,464 Irish undergraduates as its members, the Irish Independent reports.
Intentions could be innocent enough but a survey last year found that about 80 per cent of all relationships made through the online service involve sex.
The statistics show that Ireland has the seventh-largest membership in the world, behind the US, UK, Australia and Canada.
Four of the top 10 Irish colleges using the service are in Dublin.
UCD topped the list with a total of 399 members, followed by Trinity College Dublin with 395 girls who have signed up to the site. The report also shows that a further 749 new students joined the website last year.
More than 700 Irish students joined the site last year alone.
The website’s spokeswoman Angela Jacob told the Independent that the relationships formed on the website were “mutually beneficial”.
“We’ve seen an increased interest from Ireland since the economy has been in recession,” she said.
“It’s a lifeline for many students. It could mean the difference between them finishing college or being forced to drop out.”
The Daily Mail reported on the arrival of “Sugar Daddy Parties” to the UK in 2011. The newspaper reported the parties as being where “daddies” discuss fees for future dates with women who take their fancy.
The matchmakers were said to justify the event by claiming all participants were consenting adults, but critics said the parties were bordering on prostitution.
