THE Irish remain among the champion computer software pirates in Europe, with 71 per cent of all programmes illegally copied and used, Microsoft said yesterday. In Western Europe, only Greece and Spain have higher rates of illegal copying than Ireland, according to the recent survey.

Rates remain high across Europe - an average of 49 per cent - and the normally law abiding Germans pirate 42 per cent of their programmes. Vietnam tops the world copying chart, at 99 per cent. Microsoft, the world's largest software company, said piracy losses in Western Europe totalled £3.6 billion.