Ninety-five percent of Irish people still identify with one or another religion according to a poll in The Irish Times. It finds that only 2.5pc describe 
themselves as atheist, and another 2.5pc as agnostic.
A total of 13pc said they were not religious at all, with 87pc saying they are loosely to strongly religious.
The survey also listed 11 behaviours considered sinful by all major religions and found that people ranked behaviours such as lying under oath or financial fraud as more serious sins than sexual infidelity or premarital sex. It is believed that this “reordering” of traditional morality stems both from increasingly liberal attitudes to sex in Irish society as well the current media focus on financial impropriety after the banking crisis.
Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed said that they were moderately or strongly religious. Thirty-five percent said they attend religious services at least once a week. Another 12pc go monthly on average and only 8pc said they never go.
Amongst the 13% who describe themselves as “strongly religious” there is a significant age gap: Only 4% of young people describe themselves as strongly religious while 30% of older people do.
Eighty-four percent agreed that current fashions and the media sexualise young girls at an early age. Almost half agreed that the Islamic face-covering veil, the burqa, should be banned in public places while 36% said it should be permitted.
The survey found that large majorities of both Catholics and the population at large hold opinions contrary to some Catholic teachings: 78% are in favour of the ordination of women priests, while 87% are in favour of Catholic priests being allowed to marry.
The data has been interpreted by the pollsters as implying that religious affiliation is, for many, more a badge of identity than an authentic religious conviction. However, Ian McShane, the Managing Director of the company undertook the survey, believes that “while there is a disparity between the teachings of the Catholic Church and the actions of its members, this can by no means be construed as an erosion of the moral fibre of society.”
In addition to infidelity being ranked by the respondents as amongst the less serious sins, only 30% said they would not vote for a politician if they discovered that he or she had been unfaithful to their partner.
