Irish men get a lot of hardship in the media. Sure it was only earlier this year that they were dubbed the ugliest men in Europe. Harsh, or what?

Yes, the collective Irish male psyche got a major bruising back in February when a popular online dating site revealed that it blatantly rejects 90 per cent of all Irish male applicants. Why? Well, they’re fugly. With a capital F. Apparently.

Curious to find out if this was true, we decided to undergo the painful task of looking at pictures of sexy Irish celebrity men and gauging them on their ride-a-bility. For scientific research, obvs.

Ladies, the results are in and we have concluded that while there are some dodgy menfolk out there, the majority of our Irish lads are hotter than a Mars Bar on a radiator.

In fact, here are ten of our favourite home-grown male celebrities right now. Prepare yourself girls, it’s about to get hot in here…

10. Ray D’Arcy: Ray makes our mornings just that little bit brighter every single day. He’s also gorgeous, in cute, geeky kind of way (sorry Ray, we mean that in the nicest way possible). Plus he sticks to his guns and isn’t afraid to say what’s on his mind. Hot.

9. Danny O’Donoghue: There’s just something about a man with a guitar, isn’t there? And Danny O’Donoghue from The Script is no exception. Not only can the boy write a heart-achingly great bit of music, he’s also fairly decent at holding his own in the ruthless world of reality talent shows. He’s sexy. Simple as.

8. Colin Farrell: Rockstar-type swagger, cheeky charm, chiselled good looks? Yeah, it’s safe to say that we will always carry a torch for Mr Farrell.

7. Robert Sheehan: We loved him as fast-talking chancer Nathan in Misfits and our inappropriate crush continued to grow when Rob picked up the lead role in RTE’s gangland drama Love/Hate. Rob is an absolute charmer, looks like he’d be up for a bit of divilment and he’s blessed in the face department. We love.

6. Bressie: It wouldn’t be a hot Irish man countdown without giving a nod to the consistently-sexy Niall Breslin. We’ll admit that one of the main reasons why we tuned into The Voice religiously was just so we could catch a glimpse of his attractive mug. He can sing, he knows how to wield a guitar and he knows his way around a Gaelic football – what’s not to love?

5. Chris O’Dowd: Humour is one of the most attractive qualities a man can have, and Roscommon native Chris has it in absolute buckets. As soon as we saw him on The IT Crowd we were hooked. Sexy and funny? His soon-to-be-missus Dawn Porter is a lucky lady.

4. Dermot O’Leary: Both of Dermot’s parents are Irish, so technically, he is as well. Technically. Ahem. Anyway, he’s absolutely amazing. He’s funny, he’s nice and he looks as though he’d make you a daycent cup of tea. He’s the kind of guy you’d want to bring home to meet your Mammy. Sigh. Swoon.

3. Rob Kearney: Is it wrong that we only watch the rugby for the sole purpose of having a creep on the so-sexy-it-hurts Mr Kearney? Those eyes, those muscles – those tight little rugby shorts. Rob is an absolute ridebag. Excuse us while we throw a bucket of ice over ourselves…

2. Liam Neeson: Liam  Neeson is like a fine wine, he just keeps on getting better with age. In fact, earlier this year, Mr Neeson topped the polls as the Irish man that us women would most like to have as our Valentine’s Day date. Sure he’s old enough to be our dad, but he’s mature and dignified. We like that.

1. Michael Fassbender: Okay, so Michael is only half-Irish, but he’s been adopted as one of our own and we adore him. If anyone ever accuses Irish men of being ugly again, we think we’ll just track down the Fassbender and silence the naysayers with his sheer beauty and awesomeness. Irish men aren’t attractive? Oh we beg to differ…