You the readers have spoken and we hear you loud and clear.

A whopping 2,400 of you responded to our first ever readers poll, done in conjunction with Amarach Research, Ireland's premier market research company.

Yesterday in Dublin I was proud to launch the poll along with Amarach, attended by over 50 leading Irish business and political leaders and covered by RTE, Ireland's national radio and television station as well as lots of other media.

It was a little bit of history as to the best of my knowledge, no comprehensive poll of Irish American attitudes to Ireland has ever been launched before.

We had expected about 1,000 responses at best, instead you did us proud with 2,400 responding!

And you spoke to what makes you tick and come back again and again to Irishcentral.com

92 per cent of you who had traveled to Ireland said you had an overwhelmingly positive experience.

80 per cent of you say it was the most positive travel experience of your life.

Those numbers are off the charts.

It makes me realize what a treasure Ireland has in its Diaspora in America

You scored 8 out of ten in terms of your sense of closeness to Ireland and your heritage. You are most likely to live in New York, Florida, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois or Massachusetts.

However, 80 per cent feel that the cost of flights and cost of living in Ireland are the two most significant drawbacks.

You also don't like left hand drive, stick shifts and yes, the Irish weather, when it rains though the last statistic was way down the list.

You love Irish scenery, the people and the range of activities available.

When it comes to concern about Ireland unemployment figures rate highest as well as the recent bad economic tidings.

The North of Ireland was rated at only 24 per cent, a figure that is incredibly low compared to years ago I'd imagine.

Long live the Irish peace process!

Those of you with kids or grandkids over half would love to see them take a study course in Ireland.

And over half of you would take a distance learning course from an Irish university.

All of you would like to have more access to Irish products. When ti comes to those products, Waterford Crystal,Guinness Baileys and Jamesons are your favorite brands.

So raise a glass in your best Waterford crystal glass tonight and toast yourself as you have made a little bit of history with this survey.

You have proven that your heritage is still the tie that binds you to the island from whence your people came.

And we're just glad to be along for the ride at Irish Central.

For full details write to info@amarach.com for all the results.

And thanks again.