The largest porn website in the world, Pornhub, has revealed data surrounding the most popular searches in Ireland for 2022. Published in collaboration with Buzz.ie, the results are surprisingly intriguing, with some of the most niche categories taking the top spot for various counties.

Before we dive into the findings, it should be noted that while Pornhub is undoubtedly one of the most popular adult sites in the world, it is by no means the most ethical, and we are not endorsing the use of the site.

Additionally, there is no judgement to anyone who may have searched these terms, ‘each to their own’ is a mantra that we’ve all adopted here at GCN.

That being said, get ready for an interesting read about what your partner, friends, and, most unfortunately, parents, are potentially searching for on the site.

Let’s start with some general findings from the research. Ireland, in comparison to the site’s worldwide users, ranks 42nd for providing traffic to Pornhub. Irish people spend an average time of nine minutes and 33 seconds on the website, which is 20 seconds less than the international average. Immediately, we know one thing is for sure, if someone says they’ll be back in 10 minutes for an unknown reason, it’s probably best to ask no questions. 

One thing to know before we get into the nitty gritty: the following search terms aren’t the top porn searches for the individual counties, but the terms most likely to be searched in each county compared to the rest of the country. 

Dublin
In the most hilariously egotistical way, Dublin’s top relative search term was in fact ‘Dublin’. It’s good (an unsurprsining) to know that Dubliners know how to love themselves, and indeed their region’s members. As an outsider, i.e., someone not from Dublin, it seems like a strong community. 

Carlow
There’s nothing livelier than an Irish wedding, and this sentiment is reflected in Carlow’s favourite category – ‘Wedding’. The mind instantly wanders to what this really entails, but let’s just pretend that Carlow people are just traditional. While searching on an adult website, they obviously don’t want to contradict the no-sex-before-marriage ideal. 

Roscommon
I know I said there’s no judgement here, but the next relative search category for Roscommon is ‘Granny’. Roscommon, do better. 

Donegal
Let’s move on to the counties with some more *progressive* tastes regarding their adult content. Donegal, a county with beautiful scenery and charismatic inhabitants, is also toppling the patriarchy with their relative search – ‘Femdom’.

Tipperary North & Waterford
‘Pegging’ – The act of intercourse where a woman inserts a strap-on dildo into the anus of a man. There’s not much else to say on this one, but I suppose it’s good to know that Tipperary North and Waterford users like a women in control. 

In comparison to the rest of the world, insights into what categories are viewed more proportionately in Ireland were also revealed. Among the list is ‘Gay – Daddy’ (+95%), ‘Gay – Twink’ (+74%), ‘Gay – Straight Guys’ (+62%), ‘Gay – Group’ (+43%), ‘Gay – Bareback’ (+42%), and four other gay-specific genres.

While most of this article is insightful and a little bit of fun, it’s important to note some Pornhub users would be searching for more alarming material. A report from Trinity News noted the popularity of one particular category – ‘stealthing’. For those who don’t know, stealthing is the non-consensual removal of a condom during sex. Studies have shown that the practice is worryingly more common than people think.

Laila Mickelwait is the founder of the Traffickinghub movement, a campaign that aims to hold Pornhub executives accountable for allegedly enabling, distributing and profiting from rape, child abuse, sex trafficking and criminal image-based sexual abuse. It aims to shut down the site, with over two million people from 192 countries having signed the Traffickinghub movement petition.

While it’s good to laugh at the wildly varying porn searches that Irish users are looking for on the site, it’s important to note the existence of videos on the site that may depict instances of sexual assault and human trafficking. It may be a cataclysmic way of ending an article that originally poked fun at Kildare’s love of cosplay porn, but users should be aware of this aspect to the site, a site that receives more hits than Netflix.