More and more cheating spouses across Ireland are getting caught out by steamy evidence left on their smartphones.

Nine out of 10 extra-marital affairs that come to light are uncovered by a suspicious partner trawling through their adulterous husband's or wife's Facebook account or text message and email history.

Marriage counselors said suggestive correspondence and photos found on an errant partner's mobile phone or laptop account for at least 90 percent of flings discovered by the innocent party in a relationship.

Therapists at leading charity Relationships Ireland have labeled 2014 "the year of the affair" after noting a surge in the number of couples seeking help after their marriages have been rocked by a straying partner.

They said love cheats are now more likely to get found out than ever before because they are increasingly using social media and texting to arrange secret flings - and thereby leaving damning evidence on their phones and computers.

Tony Moore, therapist with the Dublin-based organization said, "We're very busy at the moment, more so than last year and affairs are the big thing that keep cropping up lately.

"Clients generally seem to have slightly less financial worries this year, but the number of couples whose relationship is in trouble because of an affair has shot up.

"There's more dating sites and more avenues now to seek out an affair than ever before. It's much easier now than it ever was.

"In at least 90 percent of cases which involve cheating that I've dealt with, the evidence of the affair has been found on social media sites like Facebook, emails or the phone.

"If, for example, a woman is suspicious, she will be inclined to trawl through her husband's mobile to find evidence."

Infidelity appears to be on the rise across the country, if recently-released figures from a secretive global site for extra-marital affairs are anything to go by.

Chiefs from Ashley Madison, the world's biggest website for love cheats, said 116,300 Irish nationals have signed up to their service over the past five years.

They said that since the start of this year, an average of 75 people every day from this country have added their profiles to the site in the search of a discreet relationship outside their marriage.

Although the site - whose slogan is “life is short, have an affair” -- is operational in 44 countries and has over 30 million members, the service's chiefs said they now rank Ireland as their biggest “success story” in terms of numbers per capita.