Schools, census and marriages

Who runs Irish primary schools, how religious affiliation is changing by age, and how people marry.

Keeping track of statistics and trends related to religion in Ireland, with data sourced mainly from the Central Statistics Office and the Department of Education. The code that reproduces every figure is on GitHub. The figures are interactive.

Part of Religion in Ireland. See also the Primary School Survey 2026 and the charities landscape.

The Catholic ethos enjoys a pronounced hegemony among primary schools in Ireland

Figure 1. The vast majority of Irish mainstream primary schools have a Catholic ethos, followed by Church of Ireland. A far smaller minority follow an inter- or multi-denominational ethos. Hover over or tap a school for its name and county. Data: Department of Education, data on individual schools, using the latest list published (2025–26). Code: make_maps.py. Open full screen.

Secular shift: Catholic marriages plummet as civil ceremonies surge

Figure 2. Opposite-sex marriages registered in Ireland by form of ceremony, 2000 to 2024. In 2000, 80% of marriages were Roman Catholic ceremonies and 16% were civil. By 2024 the two were level, at about 33% each, and Humanist ceremonies made up a further 7%. Data: CSO PxStat table VSA44. Code: fetch_marriage_cso.py, make_charts.py.

Age is no barrier: Catholicism declines as religious non-affiliation increases

Figure 3. Roman Catholic affiliation in Ireland by age group, census years 2011, 2016 and 2022. Affiliation declined in every age group. The steepest decline was among 25- to 34-year-olds (down 25 points), and the smallest among people aged 85 and over (down 4 points). Data: CSO PxStat table F5071.

Figure 4. The share of people stating no religion, by age group, census years 2011, 2016 and 2022. Data: CSO PxStat table F5071. Code for Figures 3 and 4: fetch_religion_cso.py, make_charts.py.