Niall Horan’s brother has insisted that his famous sibling is single and predicted that he will remain so for quite a while.

The handsome One Direction star has been linked to celebrities such as Demi Lovato in recent months, however his brother says he definitely is not dating at the minute as his schedule is just too hectic.

Greg Horan was speaking to Heat magazine, when he claimed that while Niall is frequently spotted hitting the clubs with a variety of females, they are all just his pals.

He explained:

“He has a lot of female friends that he goes out with, but he’s not going to start seeing them seriously because he doesn’t have the time.”

“If he found a girl he would want to give all his time to them, and it would be stupid for him to leave the band over a girl.”

On the rumours about Niall and Demi, Greg revealed that the pair are friendly, but says the relationship is a purely platonic one for now at least. He added:

“Niall and Demi are very good friends and I’ve spoken to her on Skype – Niall would like a girl like that.”

So how do the One Direction boys go about finding girlfriends if they do have time? Well Greg says they often watch and chat to potential lovers on Twitter and only agree to meet them when they like what they see.

“They test girls out to make sure they are trustworthy,” Greg told the magazine.

He continued:

“[Niall] will follow you on Twitter for a while and suss you out, make sure you’re genuine and have you out – then go for it! So watch what you’re saying on Twitter. Make sure you’re coming across as genuine.

“It’s not full on straight away. He’ll maybe go for coffee. They are all quite innocent in their own way but what teenage lad does not love the ladies?”

So there you go fangirls, maybe all that incessant tweeting of the 1D boys will pay off in the end. Who would have thought, with some of the world’s biggest celebrities and most beautiful girls falling at their feet, Niall and Harry would resort to online hookups.

Are you surprised by the news? Leave your comments below….