New research has revealed that the Irish redhead can thank the lack of sunlight for their fiery mane. The DNA laboratory which carried out the research believes the gene is connected to those with a lack of Vitamin D.

DNA studies have revealed in the past that one in ten Irish people have red hair but it is believed that up to 50% of the population are carrying the redhead gene, according to the Irish Independent.

Helen Moffat, Marketing Manager at Ireland’s DNA commented: "It's to do with the cloudy climate. Scandinavia has perhaps less hours of sunshine but Ireland and Britain are much cloudier so the Vitamin D we get is much lower in comparison to somewhere like Scandinavia where they seem to have more sunshine.”

The beautiful Maureen O'Hara, one of our most famous red-heads.

"The fairer you are, the more vitamin D you can absorb. Red hair is associated with fair skin due to the lower melanin concentration and this has advantages as more vitamin D can be absorbed,” she continued.

Ireland, Scotland and the North of England are said to have the highest concentrations of redheads as the Celtic genes are programmed to work better in countries that have little sunlight. 10% of people in Ireland have red hair, while England has 6 and Scotland a high 13.

Outside of Europe, only .06 of people have red hair.

This might also explain the pale...