Come Dine With Us: The Irish Celebs We’d Love to Invite to a Dinner Party

Dinner parties have become all the rage since Come Dine With Me hit our telly screens but we have one question for you: if you could invite any Irish celeb to a dinner party who would it be?

According to a new poll, conducted by Debenhams Ireland, the person we'd most like to give a good feed to would be Bressie. Maybe it's because he's a bit skinny or maybe it's the fact that he's drop dead gorgeous, but either way, we'd like to see him pull up a seat at our dinner table.

While the Voice of Ireland judge topped the poll, Chris O'Dowd came in a respectable second place (could you imagine the laughs you'd have with him?) while Miriam O'Callaghan, Rory McIlroy and Colin Farrell followed in the top five.

According to the poll, the popularity of the culinary-based reality TV show Come Dine With Me has inspired us Irish folk to get cooking and host our very own dinner parties.

In fact, Debenhams reported an increase of a whopping 60 per cent in sales in their dinnerware and cookware departments, with top sellers including all those dinner party essentials: napkin holders, serving dishes and place mats.

Unsurprisingly we all want Bressie at our dinner table. Hmm... we wonder why?

It's unsurprising that these cosy nights in with friends and family (and a decent meal) are now nearly more popular than an expensive night on the town, and this trend is expected to continue right throughout the month of January.

48 per cent of the people questioned as part of the poll said that they were planning on substituting their nights out this January with a dinner party at home instead. Not only do you get to have great food and good company, you also get to save some cash so we can see the appeal of getting your apron on and inviting your friends around.

"Consumers are feeling the pressure after big spending over Christmas and are pinching their purse strings when it comes to entertainment budgets for the month of January," said Karen Nason, a spokeswoman for Debenhams Ireland.

"People are optiing for a night in with friends rather than hitting the town," she added.

Here's the top ten list of Irish celebrities the survey revealed that we'd love to see around our dinner table:

1. Bressie
2. Chris O'Dowd
3. Miriam O'Callaghan
4. Roy McIlroy
5. Colin Farrell
6. Tommy Bowe
7. Georgia Salpa
8. Katie Taylor
9. Gerry Ryan
10. Michael D. Higgins