US Singer Miley Cyrus, irish mixed martial artist Conor Mcgregor, the victorious Lions rugby team and twerking were some of the most searched-for terms on google in Ireland this year. According to the google's trends for 2013, the eurovision song contest and the republic's property tax also preoccupied many irish web users this year. However, the top two searches were for budget airline Ryanair and US actor Paul Walker, star of The Fast and the Furious series of action films, who died in a car crash last month. Glee actor Cory Monteith, who died on July 13 from an alcohol and heroin overdose, was the third most popular search.
Hotel price comparison site Trivago and South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who is facing murder charges over the shooting of his late girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, were also in the top 10.
The birth of British royal baby, Prince George of Cambridge, was sixth on the list. Irish web users also made frequent searches for eurovision, the late South African leader nelson Mandela, and Oxegen music festival.
Miley Cyrus was the most searched-for musician, while Conor 'The notorious' Mcgregor was the sports star attracting most queries.
While not yet a household name, Dublin-born Mcgregor (25) is a star of the Ultimate Fighting Championship in America and his position ahead of football and GAA figures is an indication of the growing popularity of the sport in Ireland.
The British and irish Lions, who completed a successful tour of Australia in the summer, were the most searched-for sports team. Other popular searches included dance video craze the Harlem Shake; US TV series Breaking Bad, which finished earlier this year; the provocative dance move known as twerking.
Fine gael minister Phil Hogan, whose Department of the environment introduced the republic's property tax in July, was the most searched-for politician.
Across the world, nelson Mandela was first in global google searches for 2013. Searches for Mr Mandela were already high this year, but following his death on December 5 people all over the world turned to the search engine to find out more about the former South African president and his legacy.
The latest gadgets also featured prominently on the global list, reflecting the importance of new technology, with Apple's iPhone 5s at three on the list, the Samsung galaxy 4s at eight and the Sony PlayStation 4 at nine. Earlier this month, YouTube also released a list of its most popular videos in Ireland. "What does the Fox Say" by norwegian comedy duo Ylvis topped the list, followed by 'elephant' - an animated video, produced by Cork-based Sminky Animation, of an elephant who thinks he's a fish.
TOP 10 IRISH GOOGLE SEARCHES 1. Paul Walker 2. Ryanair.ie 3. Cory Monteith 4. Trivago 5. Property Tax 6. Royal Baby 7. Oscar Pistorius 8. Eurovision 2013 9. Nelson Mandela 10. Oxegen 2013
* ULTIMATE SEARCH OPTIONS: Dublin born Ultimate Fighting Championship star Conor McGregor (left) was the sports star attracting most Google searches, while the late Nelson Mandela was in ninth position and The Fast and The Furious star Paul Walker topped the Irish chart for searches after his death in a car crash last month. Second in the list was not even a person but unsurprisingly Ryanair had us scrambling for the search button