A new study published in Ireland, on civil partnerships in the country has discovered have shown lesbian couples are more likely to separate than gay male couples.

The figures released by the Court Service show that of the 2,071 civil partnerships entered into between 2011 and 2015, 6% had now been dissolved.

However, when the figures were broken down into female and male same-sex couples, lesbians were far more likely to break up than gay men.

In fact, around 12% of lesbian partnerships had been dissolved by the end of last year, compared with just 2.4% cent of gay partnerships.

According to The Independent these figures are in line with international trends.

The data also showed that heterosexual divorce in Ireland was the highest it has ever been in 2015 with the majority of applications for divorces and separations made by wives.