Just when you thought no-one had a good word to say about broadcaster Pat Kenny and his ratings, along comes McConnells with figures showing he still has strong "mammy" appeal.

As McConnells' TV buyer Ms Ellen Kelliher says: "The mammy is the engine that drives most fast-moving consumer goods markets."

On January 17th, the Late Late Show attracted an audience of 73,000 of these key decision makers - making it RTE's third most popular programme among "house keepers with children".