Young Kildare woman with cystic fibrosis set to appear on new series of First Dates Ireland

A young woman from Kildare who suffers from cystic fibrosis is set to appear in the new series of First Dates Ireland, which is back on our television screens at 9.30pm tonight. The hit RTÉ2 show pairs up singletons who have never met for their first date together, and last year's first episode also featured a Kildare man, Daryl, who set the internet alight as he brushed off his date on the show. Lauren Dempsey, from Athy, has been matched up with Paddy Murphy from Ashbourne in Meath, and neither of the pair had ever been on a date before they went on the show. Lauren told the Irish Daily Mail that it was a bit daunting, but she enjoyed the experience. She lost her sister Gillian to cystic fibrosis eight years ago, and she revealed that she is just trying to live life to the full ever since. "There's a year and a half between myself and Gillian and we had the same personalities, so we would've gone for something like this together. We grew up together so I like to live for the two of us," said Lauren. "With CF I never thought much about dating. I'm in first year college now, but was always very shy. I've only come out of my shell. "I did think, "Why am I doing this to myself?" but it didn't feel odd - it was all really cool. It felt like Paddy and I were genuinely on a date and there was no pressure at all, so I liked that about it." There are 12 episodes in the new series of First Dates Ireland, and more than 5,000 people applied to be on the show this time around before it was whittled down to 132 couples that would feature.