Obama more popular than Pope for conversation


17 Feb 2009

Some 80pc of Irish people still have a landline connection and, if they had a choice, 15pc would like to speak to Barack Obama over the phone ahead of the Pope and X Factor judges Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole.

The survey by BT found that 66pc of conversations on the telephone in Ireland are carried out by females, and 62pc still believe that talking on the phone is more important than contact by email or text message.

According to the research, news about friends and family make up 51pc of our daily conversation, and some 14pc of Irish people admit to gossiping every day.

Interestingly, Cork is a den of gossip, with 19pc of Corkonians admitting they gossip daily.

Some 7pc of the population claim they talk about “nothing much”, with those in Waterford (16pc) admitting to being the most tongue-tied.

In terms of the recession, the nation would rather avoid the topic, with only 2pc talking about economic issues.

Some 54pc claim they talk on their home phone because it is cheaper than mobile. This rises to 93pc in the capital.

By John Kennedy