There has been an increase in the sale of sex toys in Ireland during the coronavirus lockdown.
One shop in Kilkenny has seen an increase of 177% compared to this time last year.
Robert Doyle is the owner of Playblue.ie in Kilkenny.
He told Henry McKean on The Hard Shoulder: "There was that old Irish view that sex toys were perverted in some way.
"But I can grantee you there's not one single person on this country who couldn't find something that they'd like on an adult toy store.
"There is something there for everyone and people have had the time and the space to do a bit of research and find it.
"That's definitely something that we've found.
"The selection of toys that people have bought have rocketed up as well.
"It used to be a kind of... people would buy the similar toys all the time. But we've found the strangest toys have been sold over lockdown.
"So it's been great, it's obviously been a discovery for everyone".
"Our biggest category now is women - it's 58% of our sales - which is again a big increase on last year.
"Last year it would have been very much a 50/50 split.
"The only category that's actually dropped for us is probably the 18 to 24-year-olds, that's hardly moved at all.
"I guess they're busy playing X-boxes".
"If you've tried an adult toy - and a lot of people obviously have for the first time - you're much more likely to continue to try and experiment.
"So many people have been introduced to the idea of adult toys, this is going to be the new norm without a doubt".
"People just have time - it's that time to explore and experiment is what's caused the use of sex toys to shoot up."
Image by Yong Ping from PixabayOnline sales have also seen big growth as Shawna Scott, owner of Galway-based sexsiopa.ie, explains.
"In the space of one month I did triple the amount of sales I would normally do at Christmas time.
"And in any other circumstance I would have to hire staff, but it was me and my boyfriend wrapping orders all day long, working 12 hour shifts, six days a week for a month.
"Places are starting to open back up again, but I'm still seeing a good number of sales - which is great.
"It means that people are staying safe and having good, clean, sexy fun at home.
"For single people, suddenly having to have your Tinder dates over Zoom or having a socially distanced date in the park - we're needing to find new ways to kind of interact with each other on a romantic level.
"I think sex toys have been really good for that, and especially if you're going to be locked down with someone for 24/7 you're going to need to find new ways to interact with each and find new ways of being intimate with each other."
"I have talked to people who have said they have never been hornier than when this pandemic hit, because they suddenly had that yearning for that person that they've been separated from.
"Or wanting to go out on dates with people, and they never realised how much they missed going out on dates with people until the pandemic hit.
"The stress of it all has completely shut off their libido, and so there's not one right way of going about it.
"Yes, a lot of people have been buying sex toys - but not everybody has, everybody has been responding to this differently."
"I would love to see more and more people finding new ways to get themselves off".
And Mick Bridgeman, who runs Angels Adult Boutique in Limerick, has this advice.
"[What] I would suggest to people is promote local, shop local, shop carefully, shop local".
