A Cork man who admits he has never uttered the words ‘I love you’ tries to change that when he appears on First Dates Ireland next week.

Jack, 27, claims to be a ‘nice, easy- going person’ who ’loves love’.

Enter Marion, 28, from Limerick, who is so bad at dating that her friends have formed a group chat to vet her choices.

Both are looking for a long-term relationship, which will be quite a change for Jack, who dreams of dating someone ‘so hot’ that people assume he’s either ‘very rich or very funny’.

Also in First Dates Ireland on RTÉ2 on Thursday at 9.35pm, retired business owner Garry, 76, from Wexford returns to the restaurant after a romantic dry spell, happy to settle for ‘like’ at first sight. But he is instantly smitten by super-glamorous divorcee Elizabeth, 65, from Glasnevin, who is hoping for someone tall, “grey”, and handsome to make her laugh.

Bubbly Amelia, 24, of Kildare, comes to the restaurant with a sunny disposition in search of a ‘beautiful (relationship-ready) cowboy’ and meets former door-to-door salesman and ‘serial extrovert’ Chris, 25, from Dublin, who’s determined to ‘shut up and listen’ for a change.

Hoping for a ‘rough and ready country lad’, self-confessed ‘daddy’s girl’ Eilish, 22, of Carlow, meets tractor-obsessed Adam, 23, from Offaly. Both are looking for someone outside the M50 and bond over ‘fancy menus’ and a shared love of machinery.