This is topped only by our gadget-loving neighbours in the UK where almost half or 46% of homes have widescreen TVs. The survey also shows a growing number of Irish people . . . one-third of households . . . owning both a widescreen and a standard television.

In September 2005, RTE started broadcasting selected programmes on widescreen, starting with The Sunday Game, and this may have prompted the relatively high number of Irish households to go out and buy the new TVs. The difficulty of watching widescreen on a normal set may encourage this figure to grow. Overall, 99% of Irish households have a TV against an EU average of 97%. Germany has the lowest TV penetration, with 6% of households banning the box from their home.

Irish households also have one of the highest ownerships of mobile phones, according to the survey. Eighty-seven percent of households say they have access to at least one mobile phone against an EU average of 81%.

Our love affair with the mobile is growing at the expense of the fixed line. Mobilephone ownership in Ireland is up 3% from last year, according to the survey. Seventy-four percent of households say they have a fixed line. This is down 6% from last year. Almost a quarter of households have a mobile and no fixed line. Public phones have become a relic of a bygone era in Ireland with just 8% of households saying they use them, down 6% from last year.

While Ireland shows boundless enthusiasm for TVs and mobiles, we are lagging behind the rest of our EU neighbours when it comes to PC ownership and broadband access. Exactly one in two Irish households (50%) have a PC in the house and while this is up 6% on last year it is still below the EU average of 54%.

But we are well down the list on broadband access with just 11% of Irish households having access. Only households in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Cyprus and Greece have lower broadband access while the EU average is well over twice the Irish level at 28%.

This is all bad news for Eircom. Its share of internet access has dropped from 77% last year to 61% this year while BT's share increased from 3% to 7% in the same period, according to the survey.

WIDESCREEN TV OWNERSHIP PER HOUSEHOLD

Top Six UK 46%, Ireland 36%, Netherlands 35%, Finland 33%, Luxembourg 32%, Italy 30%

Bottom Six Cyprus 10%, Poland 9%, Slovenia 8%, Latvia 8%, Greece 7%, Hungary 3%